


Still No Rest For The Wicked (Borderlands X RWBY)

by Nightfall123



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 67,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28642587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightfall123/pseuds/Nightfall123
Summary: After the events of Borderlands 3 (& DLCs Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, Guns, Love and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock, Bounty of Blood, Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck), the Crimson Raiders arrive in Remnant, away from the 6 galaxies and seeking adventure - along with a little mayhem to boot. (Art is credited to the original owner. Not mine.)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

_"Ah ~ here we are again, back with another story to tell - I admit, I didn't play a big part of that 'cult' nonsense, maybe because I am preoccupied by my customers, don't rub it in. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes - a recap. *Ehem* Ever since the first Sanctuary blew up thanks to the stuck-up Colonel Hector and his 'New Pandoran Army', not like I needed anything back there, Commander Lilith had been searching for the Vault Key for years, only to be in the hands of those savage cultists from the Children of the Vault, led by those annoying rascals; Tyreen and Troy Calypso, looks like their parents forgot the value of contraception, am I right?! - HAHAHA - anyone? Ugh, whatever. I try to be funny once in a while._

_As the story goes, Lilith found a new group of Vault Hunters, willing to take the impossible odds to face the corporate giants, the mysterious behemoths, and mindless fanatics. Throughout their quest to stop the Children of the Vault, they have faced numerous obstacles and emerged victorious, but not without some unnecessary sacrifices . . . and some bad decisions, you know who I'm talking about. That runt._

_But in the end, the new Vault Hunters managed to end the COV once for all, saving the planet once more. However, during the long battle, one scientist has gained such surprising power; the former Dahl scientist, Patricia Tannis, who has been given the power of, now correct me if I'm wrong here - Phase . . . shifting. Apparently it has been gifted by the daughter of Handsome Jack, but I think it's all skagbait. Pa-HA!_

_Anyway, Tannis, who has been researching the Sirens, Eridium, the Vaults, and everything in-between, has been gifted such power that it boosted her research ten-fold! - But even after that whole debauchery with the COV, the scars remained the same, for our dear Commander Lilith is no longer with the Raiders. Yet it didn't stop there, she wanted the Raiders to move on and continue her's and Roland's goal to protect Pandora, and the universe - although I don't agree much of the latter because I just want to expand my franchise, I'm just a businessman, for Mamaril's sake!_

_The Raiders decided to take their presence to a 'whole new level' - as you youngsters say, flying away from the 6 Galaxies to explore the outer worlds that may hold the real questions for Tannis, and can even expand my franchise there! - I'll be richer than ever before. Ah, the possibilities are endless. At first it was devoid of darkness, but the Crimson Raiders found something that piqued their interests: a planet similar to the previous ones they visited, Promethea, Eden-6, maybe Pandora. They have found their first planet outside the galaxies, and the Vault Hunters are itching to drop down explore, hunt and maybe cause some mayhem. Yet one thing's for sure, as the ship identifies the name of this unknown planet, it revealed a name . . . "_

**_Remnant._ **


	2. Once Upon A Sanctuary

Author's Note: Hello readers, Nightshade213 here, back with a really odd crossover story. There's nothing much to say considering I mess up all the time with the sequencing of this whole story - and working solo and all that crap. I don't whether I should be all detailed or semi-detailed just like any fanfiction. Plus I think it's fair if you criticize me about Flak's gender being non-binary. I just called Flak a 'he' because of his deep voice, it just makes things more easier. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy, I guess? No proofreading, no Beta readers, no problem XD . . . just kidding, I suck at this lmao.

* * *

Sanctuary 3, the main ship (and the only one) of the Crimson Raiders. A little bit of history from this ship, this was made by one hunk of a woman, Mad Moxxi's daughter and the late Scooter's sister that he is DEFINITELY NOT attracted to, Ellie. Well during those years, it wasn't easy for her to scavenge such parts to build such a magnificent ship like Sanctuary; either she really did it, or she's just bluffing who knows?

Right now, this ship is the only thing that's holding the Crimson Raiders as they travel around the galaxy, looking for all kinds of planets to explore and supplies to keep them going and not reaching to a mutiny, although one certain greedy arms dealer thinks about that after a small Claw and Order with Maurice, the shady saurian.

The ship has basically everything - guns, food, med bay, an engine room, a navigation/command deck, residential quarters, hell, they got one hell of a space for Crazy Earl, their own black market seller. Sure they don't have the perfect crew, and they don't have the perfect ship - but the Crimson Raiders have survived the onslaught of the Maliwan Corporation and the Children of the Vault, which pretty much says everything about their victories . . . so far.

As of the current time, the ship is floating steadily, in orbit of an unknown planet they have recently discovered - Remnant. Ever since they have stopped here, the ship's explorer, Sir Alistair Hammerlock, and the ship's temporary leader/Sirentologist/researcher/paranoid genius, Patricia Tannis, have been working hard to identify WHAT is Remnant? Why is it here? Why is the moon broken into several pieces on one side? The questions seem to pile up more often than they answered the previous ones.

But after days of constant questions, the two then agreed to a risky, but awesome plan, however, they need the help of the new Vault Hunters.

"GET OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTT!", a female scream can be heard from the Residential Quarters of the ship. Within there, 4 sizable rooms are found, 2 rooms each side facing adjacently, with a small round table outside, filled all sorts of stuff like half-filled cups and worn out notebooks. Just then one of the doors open, revealing a young teenager with war paint like tattoos on her cheeks, but currently, she's wearing nothing but a brown towel wrapped around her to cover her moist body, yet this teenager is seething with rage and grabs a minigun from her mech, which is also inside her room.

What she's seething at though, is a panicking white-haired old man wearing a dark blue jacket (with a neon yellow on the inner side), and dark blue combat pants, wearing a white inner shirt. Despite his old age, his metal legs still made him quick enough to run away from the teenager. "WAITWAITWAITWAIT! - MOZE - IT WAS JUST A TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY! I SWEAR! I DIDN'T MEAN TO PEEK! - AAAAAAHHHHHH!", but he is interrupted by a stream of bullets nearly grazing him.

Moze growls in rage, still in her bathing towel, "DON'T PULL THAT CRAP AGAIN ON ME! - THAT'S THE THRITIETH TIME YOU'VE SAID THAT - AND I''VE FUCKING HAD IT WITH YOUR EXCUSES! NOW GET BACK HERE AND LEMME PUT LEAD IN YOUR FUCKING HEAD!", the Gunner growls as she revs the minigun again.

* * *

_**MOZE "THE GUNNER" - Stand by for Iron Bear.** _

* * *

"NONONONONONONONONONONO! - ARRRRRGGGHHH! FECK ME ARSE!", the old man vaults over the numerous obstacles around the ship and takes out a remote that digitalizes his Digi-Clone, and smirks. "MOZE, I DIDN'T WANT YOU DO TO DO THIS! BUT YA' LEAVE ME NO CHOICE LASS! - HANDSOME, GET 'ER!"

The Digi-Clone nods and fires at Moze with the assault rifle, one of the bullets hit Moze's brown towel, almost falling off before Moze drops her minigun and even growls even more. She then pulls out a secret grenade from her minigun and tosses at the old man. "Uh oh - SHITE! - ".

As the explosion hits, it kills his Digi-Clone and knocking him away in slow motion as the title card appears.

* * *

_**ZANE FLYNT "THE OPERATIVE" - 30 Dozens of Bounties, 30 Dozens of Middle Names, 30 Decades of Experience (or something)** _

* * *

Once Zane is slammed against the wall, Moze cracks her left knuckles on a wall, while the other is holding the shot towel, so as to not let the residents see her bare naked. "Any last words, old geezer?", her tone is far colder than the other times she's facing the enemy - when it comes to Zane, Moze is always pissed about him.

The old man coughs hard, not minding the raging girl in front of his face. He smirks at Moze, "Honestly - you are quite measured. I'm impressed."

Moze thinks about it for a moment, then suddenly her face grows red, realizing that Zane took notice of her 'measurements', and he really did sneak into her room on purpose. "I! HAAAAATTEEEEE! YOOOOOOOU! - ", but before she could unleash hell upon him, a robotic hand prevents her from doing it.

"That's enough ruckus, Moze.", a deep voice utters behind her. She looks behind her to see a 7 foot robot donning a torn-up dark-green hoodie jacket with a blue backpack hanging on his back with all sorts of trinkets hanging on it. But hiding beneath the hoodie is a glowing green eye, flashing inside the rusty yellow exoskeleton.

* * *

_**FL4K "THE BEASTMASTER" - Gotta' Kill'em All!** _

* * *

The Gunner grunts as she retracts her fist and spits on the floor on her side, "You're lucky this time, old man.", she's still pissed off at him.

But Zane clearly ignores that and shifts his eyes at his metallic savior, with a big smile. "FLAKKY BOYO! - AHHH THERE YA' ARE YA' RUSTY BASTARD! - ".

" **Same goes for you, senile fool.** ", he kicks him in the gonads, earning a pained squeal, which was honestly better than being mauled by a ravenous Gunner, who's punches are equally sharp and painful like her combat knife.

"OWWWWWIIIIIIEEEEEE! THAT - WAS UNCALLED FOR - NGH!", he grovels on the ground, trying to hold on to the long pain, crawling away to the medbay where hopefully, Tannis is there to patch him up, which most of time, isn't there.

Moze sighs in fatigue, and glances at Flak with a smile, "Thanks for that, Flak. Knew you'd hear my screams."

" **Frankly, my auditory sensors hear almost everything around the ship - but at least I don't use that information for such . . . degeneracy.** ", he glances at Zane, still crawling about. Then looks back at Moze, " **Also - you need to get changed. Ellie, Tannis and Hammerlock needs us at the Cargo Bay.** "

"It's finally time, huh?", Moze smirks at him. "Alright - I'll see you at the Cargo Bay, within a few minutes." she leaves the Beastmaster and the Operative, dragging her minigun on the way back.

Once Moze reached the Cargo Bay, now wearing her standard Vladof gear, she heads downstairs to see the gentleman hunter Sir Hammerlock, the mechanic Ellie, and Tannis, looking at a podium which shows a hologram of Remnant. Hammerlock hears the steps of Moze and turns to her with the usual smile he greets his trusted companions. "Ah - you're here, Moze! Jolly Good! We're just here to brief you 4 on our first expedition to the planet Remnant! This planet is chock full of ruthless creatures to hunt - "

" - And ancient ruins to explore! Don't forget about that!", Tannis gleefully interrupts. "Maybe Remnant holds a far greater answer regarding the Eridians and the Vaults, but I'm not so sure about my other hypothesis; which is the Eridians have never visited Remnant before. Either way, we must gather the rest of your crew members."

" - Aye, we're here!", the old man waves at them as he's now fine and well, after that whole shenanigan with Moze, in fact, she's still pissed about that. Zane then glances at Remnant. "SO we're finally touching down there?! Bet it'd be more fun than me home planet. That was a shite-hole at it's finest."

" **Indeed, until now my goal still remains clearer than ever; and that is to hunt my worthy foes to please Death.** ", the robot reminds himself of his goal, which has been received ever since his sentience. " **Now where is Amara? -** "

"I'M HERE! I'M HERE!" a voice calls behind them, the trio turn around to find a musuclar woman with a dark tone, wearing a sleeveless vest with spikes to give off a punk/ruffian vibe, along with ordinary pants with scratches all over and a purple cloth wrapped around her waist, exiting the Black Market, holding a Maliwan SF Force submachine gun. A mystical arm materializes behind her, waving at them whilst smiling sheepishly, letting the title card appear.

* * *

_**AMARA "THE SIREN" - She's definitely a reference.** _

* * *

"Acha - sorry. Earl was just being stubborn not letting me turn-in my Loot-O-Grams.", she scratches the back of her head while holstering her newly received SMG on her back. If anybody doesn't know about Loot-O-Grams are, think about a package of sort, that has a random chance of giving a legendary weapon, r a weak weapon nobody wants, and Amara seems to be hitting the jackpot with the SMG.

 **"Hmmm, understandable. But may I ask, how many Loot-O-Grams did you turn in to get that Legendary?** ", Flak tilts his head in curiosity.

"25.", Amara replies nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.

"TWENTY-FIVE?!", Moze gawks her mouth and eyes at that amount, even she couldn't have the time to farm that long.

"Holy shite, lass. You almost beat me record of 40! I'm fecking impressed! Anyway - now that we're all here. What's the deal about this Remnant? What makes you both giddy right now?", the old man questions the two.

Hammerlock clears his throat, adjusting his monocle. "Ahh yes, Remnant, of all the things that ever gave me the bestest record of sleepless nights, it's this peculiar planet! - With perhaps a shattered moon, but I assume there's a history behind it, however we don't have such technology to eavesdrop the denizens down there, since this is the outer worlds and there's no sign of DAHL, which they are the inventors of the ECHO Communications Devices series. We don't know what lies down there but we can tell you about it's atmosphere and it's overall geographical landscape. Ms. Tannis, if you please." he steps aside.

"Ah yes, thank you, Mr. Hammerlock - ", she steps forward.

" - Ah it's 'Sir' Hammerlock.", the hunter corrects her for a moment.

" - My apologies, Sir Hammerlock.", she cringes for a moment, since being corrected was one the top most disliked things she experienced, quite standard for a crazed scientist. "As I was saying, this outer planet's atmosphere is quite fascinating, mainly because it contains roughly the same amount of the same type of gases founded on planet that are capable of sustaining life like Promethea, Eden-6, Pandora but the BEST example of this - is Eden-5, which houses the laughable Tediore corporation. - "

" - UHHH! EXCUSE ME!? BUT TEDIORE ISN'T WHAT YOU CALL LAUGHABLE!", a voice of teenager girl arrives crossing her arms, wearing roughly same outfit as Amara, but her iconic red pigtails and her goggles standout. She eyes Tannis with a glare. "Frankly, my father calls Tediore, "The Everyday Corporation", not to be confused by Jakobs with "The Family Corporation, no offense Hammy - ".

" - None taken.", he raises a palm, clearly respecting the red-haired engineer. "Please go on."

Moze steps up, "Gaige? What does Tannis mean by the same atmosphere?".

Gaige sighs as she faces the Vault Hunters. "Eden-5, used to be my home, it's kind of a mix between Promethea and Eden-6, although it's ordinary and it's pretty boring - SCRATCH THAT - IT WAS INCREDIBLY BORING! MY DAD WAS THE ONLY ONE MAKING THINGS BETTER FOR ME! - Where was I? Oh yeah, Remnant, my point IS: This Remnant HAS to be filled with tall cities lush jungles, FRIGGIN BODIES OF OCEANS FROM JUNPAI-7! Which makes it even more AWESOME explore! - "

" - But let me stop you right there, dear Gaige, for this is quite a hypothetical problem that has a 90% chance of being true.", Hammerlock pinches his index and his middle finger to zoom in, revealing 4 MAIN continents. "It appears we have a continental type of planet of problem.", he then switches to a more 3D Landscape hologram and taps the first continent from the north (Atlas) "This one - is rather mountainous and has a harsh cold climate, since it's way over the northern area, I presume the southern part of Remnant must be tropical."

" **Looks like I'll be documenting much of Remnant's flora and fauna.** ", Flak quips.

"Indeed so, my fellow scribe. This is why Remnant was strayed far from our 6 galaxies, because it's rather too perfect to be involved in our space. - ".

" - Correction: No planet is perfect. Which is where you 4 come in: Since we don't know what's down there and our communications are boosted thanks to Gaige and Ellie. You four will explore Remnant and tell us about - honestly, everything!", Tannis smiles at them.

Ellie walks forward, "Hell yeah! And thanks to that Rhys fella' from Atlas, he gave us some neat upgrades for our drop pods. Heavily improved landing gear, that way y'all won't die from the sheer impact like we did back in the other planets. Oh - and some coffee holders too. Not sure who gave that sorta upgrade."

"Lorelei - that lass may have brought it here as a way of thanks fer' helpin' her out with that coffee and burger problem.", the old man answers, and cracks his knuckles. "ALRIGHT - I guess we're SET! - Everybody got their fingers crossed?!", he turns to his team.

" **No**.", Flak bluntly replies as he locks into his pod.

"Seriously? Is that even a thing?", Moze raises an eyebrow as she goes to her pod.

"Zane, don't jinx this one.", Amara groans as she heads to her pod.

Zane merely scoffs and turns to Tannis, Gaige and Hammerlock, with Tannis approaching him, giving him a one-of-a-kind ECHO recorder. "Be sure to attach this in your ECHO recorders, it will boost the signal from here to down there. Good luck!", she then backs away to a safe area.

The old man stores it in his pocket and heads in the pod and locks himself in, grinning as Ellie begins the countdown. "ALRIGHT! - VIVA LA REMNANT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! - AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!", his mad laughter turned into a 180, now screaming in fear.

Just then the drop pods are ejected simultaneously, and immediately closing the Ejection Doors. As the geniuses watch the drop pods slowly go down in Remnant's atmosphere, Ellie smirks, "Heh. They're gonna die."

* * *

Within the frozen continent of Atlas, a man with a clean cut hair, wearing a proper white uniform, is on his coffee break. As he watches his own home in peace and tranquility, he sees 4 little specs of comets flying past his vision.

He could only narrows his eyes at that, - but he is interrupted by a call from one of his soldiers on duty, breaking his trance.

* * *

In the harsh barren desert of Vacuo, a team of teenagers look up in the up in the night sky to see 4 comet like projectiles. One of them, which is a girl with bunny ears, hops with joy, approaching one of her teammates, which is another girl wearing all dark-brown to coffee-brown clothes, and filled with ammo belts. "COCO, LOOK! - SHOOTING STARS! QUICK MAKE A WISH!", she giggles at her friend.

The girl with the shades groan, "I just wish we have our ship alre - "

"Yo, guys! - OUR SHIP TO BEACON'S HERE! - LET'S GO!", a muscular, tall and athletic-looking young man with shaved-short black hair and tanned skin, who wears mostly pale-green and brown attire arrives rushes to them with a big smile.

"Well, whaddya' know . . . ", the shades girl looks at the 'shooting stars' again and finally ignores it.

* * *

Meanwhile at the lush jungles of Mistral, a young blonde man who wears an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular physique. He also wears blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt. He wears white bandages on his legs and has a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants, swings around to catch a ride on one of the ships that will transport Beacon Academy. However, just as he lands on the ship, he is knocked down by a stray lamp post attached by the ship, letting him lay down and see the sky, spotting 4 comet like projectiles flying over him far, far away. "Ahhh ~ nOw I'm sEeInG fOuRs ~ ", the monkey spoke with a dizzy slur before passing out.

* * *

And lastly, watching from the confines of his office in Vale, a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. He has a light complexion and sharp facial features. He wears shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit mainly consists of an unzipped black suit over a dark green, buttoned vest and green shirt. He also wears black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants.

He narrows his eyes and smiles, knowing that those 4 specs in the sky, seemingly falling, are not what they seem. "Glynda?"

"Yes, Ozpin?", a bespectacled lady approaches him.

"Do we have available slots for an . . . extra team?", he asks while watching the 4 streams.

"Unfortunately, no - everything's already booked by the first-year enrollees. Tomorrow is their arrival.", she replies while browsing through the papers.

The old man slowly turns to her, "Great. Make a new one, and we'll have to double the amount of cameras in Emerald Forest. Just in case we may encounter some . . . unexpected visitors.", he smiles at her.


	3. Seven Seas of Rhye

In Beacon Cliff, Glynda Goodwitch carries her Scroll and walks beside Headmaster Ozpin. "Our last pair has been formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."

She then taps on the second screen, which shows Jaune and Pyrrha together. " - Still he's probably better off than Ms. Nikos."

Ozpin merely glances at her, "Hmm?".

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we'll find out soon enough.", she walks away from him.

"At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year? ... Professor Ozpin?", she glances at the professor only to hear him think about the live footage.

However, the old man looks away for a second and glances at the Emerald Forest. "Glynda - what's the news about our . . . visitors?".

"Well, about . . . them.", she taps on her scroll to reveal the map of Emerald Forest, and in the borders of the said forest are 4 dots blinking. "I have reported 4 unknown signatures in the Emerald Forest. These might be from those 'comets' we saw last night, Ozpin. But I'd rather eliminate them for this Initiation, we can't put our students at risk! There's already Grimm for them to handle - "

" - No, I have a far better plan. Hopefully, these new modifications to our cameras, will come in handy.", Ozpin smiles as he taps on another screen, seeing the 4 Vault Hunters that crash landed in Remnant last night.

* * *

Within the Emerald Forest, the four Vault Hunters from the drop pods are now traversing through the edge of Emerald Forest, but the team is rather - bothered. Especially for Zane, who's been shaking off branches ever since they started heading to one direction. As he cuts off another group of vines blocking their way, the old man finally groans loudly. "UGGGGGH - It's always been forest here and forest that! Seriously, has anybody found something that is not green!?"

"Nope.", Moze cuts a thick wall of foliage with her combat knife, clearly unfazed by the countless leaves she's facing. Ever since she went AWOL after that sorry excuse of a mission, Moze had been rigorously trained to adapt in several environments; forests, desert, oceans, urban environments, etc. And after all that, at least the silver lining is that she can still be patient, unlike Zane.

"Nuh-uh.", Amara responds while punching a tree, for no reason. Maybe because she doesn't want her fists to be rusty when there's going to be enemies running at them soon.

" **Negative. So far, Tannis or Hammerlock still haven't establish proper connection with us - hopefully, they still think we are alive.** ", Flak glances at Zane, discovering the flora within Remnant with his ECHO device or his eye, hoping to shar this information with Hammerlock and the rest of the Raiders. Pretty soon they might be needing this when it comes to natural made necessities like herbal medicine, ingredients and many more.

"Yeah - well, I'm too handsome to die anyway - and if I'M GOING TO DIE! - I'd rather go with the best retirement ever, or fecking heart attack.", Zane snickers as he imagines dying with wearing nothing a but simple beach shorts and a glass of ale for, watching the sunset. And most importantly, no one else to kill him while he's living the dream.

But the soldier cringes from Zane's face and immediately backs away. "Yeesh - I'd rather see the second one. Still - it seems this goes on forever, I think we should change directions this time, so far we haven't been able to find one single person or a even a talking object at this point so we won't get lost in this forest, god I miss Balex already.", Moze smiles at the thought of the teddy bear who has more funny quips than the runt Ava.

" _I believe I can be of assistance with that, strangers._ ", a voice echoes within the forests. Just that alone made the Vault Hunters on edge, they all went against on each other's backs watching vigilantly.

"Nah, mate - YOU should do the same! If I know anythin' about a mysterious voice, there can be TWO THINGS: ONE! - You could be an important character for a huge fecking series that will have tons of complications that can affect us entirely OR - you could NOT be an important character for a huge fecking series that will have tons of complications that can affect us entirely. IF YOU DON'T SPEAK UP FER THE NEXT TEN SECONDS, SAY GOODBYE TO YAR' FIRST IMPRESSIONS, YA BUSHY LANGER!", Zane entirely butchered his segment.

" _\- I assure you that I am not a threat, nor do I pose one. In fact, I need your help._ ", the voice replies to them.

" **What do you need assistance with?** ", the Beastmaster inquires.

"How much payment are you gonna give us?", the Gunner added.

" - And can we really trust you?", and the Siren ends it with a little difficult question.

" _Rewards and questions will be awarded in due time, for now - you must heed my request and carry it out now for the event has already started. You see - I am a headmaster of a prestigious academy - and I told them that our instructors and staff are not to intervene._ "

" _However, I'm detecting a surge of Grimm, approaching the area - and as much as I want to my students to accomplish what they are intended to do - they are far too inexperienced to handle such capacity, which is where you four come in._ "

" - Uhhh, what are we gonna do exactly?", Moze raises an eyebrow to that unclear statement.

" _Just do what you do best: Make a dramatic entrance. There are hidden cameras all over the forest, I'll be using the different signals from those devices to lead the way. Be careful, Emerald Forest is filled with Grimm, you'll get to know them soon enough._ ", the call ends. The Vault Hunters then hear a distant pinging, they all exchange glances and nods, then follow the noises, hopefully it'll lead them out of this huge forest.

* * *

Lost in the massive forest, Ruby is playing with a leaf, clearly not happy about in her predicament. Especially she's paired with Miss Prissy Pants over here. "It's definitely this way", Weiss moves to the left.

"I mean this way. It's definitely this way.", Weiss moves to the right, still unclear on her sense of location.

She then stops in front of Ruby, still squatting on the ground. "Alright, it's official we passed it."

She narrows her eyes and lightly slams the leaf, getting up on her two feet, facing Weiss with a frown. "Why can't you just that admit that you have no idea, where we're going?".

"Because I know where we are going."

Ruby crosses her arms, while Weiss tries to piece the little to no information they have been given. "We're going to the Forest Temple! - ", however she is insulted again as Ruby lets out a tired groan. "Oh stop it. You don't know where we are either."

She snaps at Weiss "Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything."

"What is that supposed to mean?", she recoils back from her.

"It means you're a big stupid jerk and I hate you!", she raises her voice, expressing her anger from the moment they landed here in the forest.

Weiss lets out an annoyed groan and frowns as she walks away from her, "Just keep moving."

Ruby follows Weisss imitating her voice and her silly hoity-toity movements. "Ahhh ~ just keep moving. Hurryu up. Waah. Watch where you're going. - Why are you so bossy?!"

"I'm not bossy! - Don't say things like that!", she lashes out at Ruby.

"Stop treating me like a kid."

"Stop ACTING like a kid."

" - Well stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm not perfect! Not yet, but I'm still leagues better than you.", she ends the conversation with a cold tone as she walks to find her way.

Ruby's anger turn to a hurtful expression, "You don't even know me."

* * *

Both Jaune and Pyrrha arrive at the cave, "Think this is it?"

The pair enter the cave, with Jaune holding the torch, Pyrrha: I don't think this is it . . .

"Pyrrha - I'm the one with the torch can you just humor me for just five minutes - GYAH!", Jaune falls down and drops the torch, extinguishing in the water, leaving the two in the darkness.

"Wait, do you feel that?"

"Soul-crushing regret?"

Pyrrha narrows her eyes sensing something nearby. "No, it's warm.", she then follows the nearby sense, with Jaune following suit albeit trying his best not to step anything or touch anything weird.

But as they head deep in une's face light up as he sees the glowing thing, "THAT'S THE RELIC!", he slowly approaches the unknown object, and tries to reach for it, only to recoil a little bit. "Hey. Bad relic."

He tries it a few times before he finally grabs hold of it, "GOTCHA!"

Pyrrha takes a closer look at the 'relic', "Uhh, Jaune . . . ?". Thankfully, the glowing 'relic' shines the giant scorpion Grimm; the Deathstalker.

* * *

Yang ang Blake arrive at a small ruin, surrounded by thick trees but still has some field to see things clearly from afar.

"Think this is it?" Yang asks Blake only to give her a shrug, and the two then ventures closer to inspect said ruins.

Blake observes the objects being deliberately placed on the stone pedestals. "Chess pieces."

Yang observes some of the stone pedestals are rather empty. "Some of them are missing, looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one", the two then split up to find which piece is for them.

"Hmm, how about a cute little pony?!", she takes out a golden yellow knight piece and lifts it up with a big smile.

"Sure.", Blake rolls her eyes around, smiling as the two regroup together.

"That wasn't too hard", Yang smirks as she places her hands on her waist.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find.", but their conversation is interrupted by a girlish shriek from a distance.

Yang immediately looks around, trying to find which direction was the shriek. "SOME GIRL'S IN TROUBLE! - Blake, did you hear that?! What should we do?".

However, Blake merely ignores Yang as she spots something falling towards them.

* * *

While following the signals left by Ozpin, the Vault Hunters jolt up at the abrupt sound of Jaune's scream, echoing around the Emerald Forest.

Moze flinches as she heard the scream, along with the others. She deeply inhales and exhales for a moment, trying to calm herself down. "Now . . . let me get this straight - we just crashed on a random-ass planet, then a random-ass headmaster dude asking us for help, while we're dealing with random-ass monsters that may or may not kill us instantaneously, in the thick-ass forest! - DID I LEFT ANYTHING OUT?!", the Gunner yells whilst she's slowly being driven on edge.

" **That was surprisingly accurate. For a frightened, well-trained soldier.** ", Flak blatantly agrees with the summary Moze but not without a little bit of honesty.

"Frightened?! No-no, I'm from the Ursa Corps, Flak. I'm just weirded out by how much of a LUNATIC this headmaster guy, sending his students in the middle of nowhere and no instructions, based on that guy with the girlish scream!".

"How did you know that was a guy?! - Oh. Right.", Amara turns to Moze. Suddenly she remembered the enemies she fought, mostly men, scream and shriek like women as they run away from her from a fight, sometimes she'd think she was a man and every man around her would be shrinking and shying away like little girls, which would be cool to be honest but for Amara, not so much.

"Believe me, I've participated and seen enough training drills and actual trips to give you the evidence." she remembers the constant yelling from the superior officers and the rookies, followed by loud gunshots and whistles of artillery fire. Suddenly she snaps out of her trance and glances at Zane.

"Whoever wasted their larynx just now, hopefully that fella survives - or his body is a small distraction for a group meal. Always look fer a silver lining, because Time is definitely on the essence 'ere!", Zane hears the same signal again from a different hidden camera, he turns to his team. "Oi - found a signal, let's get goin'.", the 4 continues to press on deep within the forest.

* * *

"HEEAAAAAAAADSSSSSS UUUUUUUUPPPP!", Ruby yells as she is about to land in Yang and Blake only for a stray force to change her destination, which is above the tree.

"What was that?", Ruby's dizziness soon fades as she glances at Jaune, hanging upside-down from the same tree. "Uhhm, hey Ruby."

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?", Blake and Yang peer at the tree where Ruby and Jaune are, but then their attention turn to a big rustling behind the trees.

Just as they lock their eyes on the noise, an Ursa appears out from the woods, only to be blasted behind by a thunder blast. "YEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!", and then the Grimm falls down dead. Nora pops out from behind the Ursa and stands on top of it. "Eeeeeewwww . . ."

"Nora . . . please don't ever do that again - ", he looks back at where she was supposed to be only to vanish in plain sight.

"Oooooo ~ ", she takes a closer look at the golden yellow rook chess piece and quickly takes it with a big gleam on her face. "I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE! ~ I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE! ~", but Ren yells her name, prompting her stop her cheery singing. She giggles as she focuses her attention to her partner, "COMING REN! ~ "

"Did that girl just ride on an Ursa?", Blake tilts her head at the two. But before Yang could even respond again, Pyrrha appears from the forest being chased with a giant Deathstalker, bursting out from the trees, it's mouth ready to rip anyone to shreds, the Deathstalker tries to grab Pyrrha, but the Spartan-dressed Huntress vaults forward, avoiding the attack by putting a great distance between her and the Grimm. She then sees Jaune, hanging upside-down. "JAUNE!"

"PYRRHA!", he yells her name triumphantly.

"WOAH!", Ruby gawks at Pyrrha and the Deathstalker wanting some of the action and jumps down, doing a combat roll and pops up beside her sister.

"RUBY?"

"YANG!"

But before the two sisters could hug, a third person intervenes. "NOOOOORA!".

Blake crosses her arms, still confused as to what's going on, "Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?"

All this confusion and sudden appearances made Yang growl in anger and eventually her hair and her eyes, burst into flames, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! CAN EVERYBODY JUST CHILL OUT FOR 2 MINUTES BEFORE SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS NEXT?!"

"Uhhm, Yang . . .", Ruby points up in the sky, thus Yang slowly looking up after bursting out her anger, now seeing Weiss, left alone hanging on a Nevermore's talons.

They all look up in the sky, watching Weiss fall from the Nevermore's talons "I said to jump."

"She's gonna fall.", Blake responded.

"She'll be fine.", Ruby sheepishly defends the situation, clearly not wanting to be thinking other results.

"She's falling.", Ren rebutted with a stale tone.

Jaune smiles at the opportunity and catches her perfectly catches her in mid-air, "Just dropping in? ~ ", at first they have a brief stare, but as they both look down; it's not a cartoon - when gravity doesn't work if you don't look down. And fall they did, with Weiss landing on Jaune's back.

"Hmph. My hero."

Jaune lets out a painful groan while Pyrrha is still being chased by a Deathstalker, "Ugh . . . my back."

Pyrrha then trips and falls down in front of the five students. "Great now the gang's all here, we can all die together!"

"Not if I can help it!", she lets out a brave yell as she boosts herself at the Deathstalker, planning a more aggressive type of attack, surely it will work.

"RUBY, WAIT!", but to no avail Ruby charges at the Deathstalker only to block her attack, sending her flying away , but the red hood still retains her footing. She glances at the monster, not even affected by her meager attack and shifts its target from Pyrrha to Ruby.

"D-DON'T WORRY! TOTALLY FINE!", she turns to the Deathstalker and shoots one bullet before running away from it.

"RUBY GET OUT OF THERE!", The Nevermore's feathers block Yang's passage to save her sister while one of it's giant feathers struck Ruby's Cape, pinning her to the ground, as the Deathstalker comes charging close at Ruby. "I'M TRYING!", she pulls her cape from the feather as hard as she can.

"RUBY! - ", As the Deathstalker's stinger reaches within range and ready to attack Ruby, before anyone could notice, a big mech jumps out of the trees, using it's massive dome shield around it. Yang and everyone gawks at the sudden arrival of the unknown mech that is protecting her little sister.

Using the SECURITY BEAR PROTOCOL, the mech stands ominously, protecting Ruby from the stinger. The Deathstalker tries to remove it's stinger from the shield, but the mech aims it's dual VANQUINSHER ROCKET PODS and fires cluster of homing rockets at the Deathstalker, sustaining heavy damage and break most of it's legs.

After the whole salvo, the mech opens itself for the pilot to exit and digistructs itself back to it's owner, revealing a young girl wearing a half-complete combat armor and a leather vest with a white inner shirt slightly exposed. The big metal shoulder pad showing a white star with red stripes, blocking her face, along with her huge bowl helmet, similar to a Vietnam M1 US Army helmet, with a small bandolier of bullets and some scribbled writings.

The Deathstalker slowly creeps forward, still some fight left in it - only to spawn out two giant mystical arms from the back, and tears in it in half like a sheet of paper, the Deathstalker body poofs into black smoke. As the smoke dissipates, the teenagers see a muscular lady, smirking at them with her arms crossed, her sheer strength displayed in front of them may be on par - or better yet, more powerful than Yang. They see the sleeveless spiked vest and her glowing marks on her left shoulder that reaches all the way down to her hand.

But that wasn't over, they suddenly hear roars of Grimm nearby, as the ground is shaking with great intensity. Just as the Grimm wave is approaching, two more figures appeared behind the bushes, one of which is an old man carrying a small speaker, he places on the ground and plays a certain song. Once the music is ready, a large group of Grimm bursts from the opposite side of the forest.

Everyone is about to help the 4 strangers, but Pyrrha blocks them with of her arms, "Wait - look . . . "

Ruby groans as she wants to help, " - But - "

" - Alright, boyos and lasses.", the Irish Operative smirks as he and team take out their guns. "LET'S FOOKIN' PAAAAAARRRRRRTAAAAAAAAAYYYYY! ~ ". The team of four moves out to face the opposition, with the robot carrying a simple-looking sniper rifle following behind them and stayed way back, letting the others take care of the front assault. The old man fires his guns, luring the Beowulves to him.

* * *

_**CURRENT MUSIC: SEVEN SEAS OF RHYE - QUEEN** _

* * *

As the music plays blaring within the forest, Zane dropkicks one Beowulf and takes out his DAHL Pistol, Nemesis, which was derived from the original which was a Hyperion Pistol. He yells as he guns down and distracts the Beowulves, whilst running around in circles, one by one, he kills Grimm, which triggers one of his skills, in his belt: DEATH FOLLOWS CLOSE, which also triggers ALL of his kill skills, from Movement Speed, to Fire Rate, to Health Regeneration, everything in one package in just one or two kills and he's dead set on killing the Grimm around him. "COME ON, YA' BLACK BUNGHOLES! - I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

Zane runs around, mantling, sliding, even moonwalking his way out of the group of Beowulves. Suddenly an Ursai jumps outta nowhere and only to be fooled Zane's DIGI-CLONE, the Clone scowls at the Ursai and kills the Ursai with a burst of precision shots to the head. Meanwhile the original Zane, is dodging left and right, with a group of Beowulves charge at him altogether, only to be fooled AGAIN by swapping places with the Digi-Clone, and he has a device that whenever he swaps with a Digi-Clone, a wave of cryo engulf the Beowulves slowing them down.

"What the? HE CAN USE ICE ELEMENTS!?" Weiss complains as Zane circles around the slowed Beowulves and kills the last batch. But before Zane could walk, he suddenly feels back pain as he can hear loud cracks. "ARGGGH - FECK! - Need ta' find a spa 'ere. OI - AMARA, CAN YA' HELP ME FIND A SPA? ME BACK'S HURTIN' AGAIN!"

* * *

"KINDA BUSY HERE, OLD MAN! - " she dodges a swipe from the Boarbatusk and kills it with the SMG which has two elements at it's disposal; Shock and Corrosion, electrocuting it and melting it's body at the same time. "HAH! - ", but before she could relish the victory, the brawler is knocked away by another Boarbatusk, but merely bruising Amara. The Siren immediately picks herself up, unfazed by the surprise attack. "Seriously?! - Just like that?!"

Fate decided to be more kind to her by sending more Boarbatusks, slowly circling around her. "Oh, now this is more like it."

One Boarbatusks charge at Amara only to be PHASEGRASPED, but her Phasegrasp's ability ALLURE, triggers a big singularity within the circle of Boarbatusks, the force from the Phasegrasp is too powerful, they are flying around the magic prison, and with all the Boarbatusks in one place she summons all 6 mystical arms, climbing a tree, and boosts herself from it, casting a PHASESLAM from a high distance, killing all the Boarbatusks with in the large area.

As she was about to be done, two Beowulves jumps down behind Amara only to be both one-punched by each of her fist, knocking them both down.

"Tch. Mediocre, again. Well, it was almost a real exercise this - WOAH!", she nearly dodges a Nevermore attack and backs away. "FLAK, AIR SUPPORT!"

* * *

" **ON IT!** ", he uses his one good eye and starts clipping wings of the Nevermores, not needing to aim for the head of any parts of the body; no movement, no problem. Thanks to the superior zoom of the Monocle sniper rifle manufactured by the ancient, but still reliable Jakobs Corporation. Wainwright Jakobs, the CEO of the company, gives this certain rifle to Flak as a gift, from a hunter to a hunter as a way of thanks for defeating the COV presence in their swamp home planet in Eden-6, along with Hammerlock's rich bitch sister, Aurelia Hammerlock, although it could've been resolved differently if fate didn't tempt Aurelia to join said cult in the first place.

Each of Flak's shot landed perfectly on the Nevermores, bringing them down to the ground, while his pets; Mr. Chew the Skag, Broodless the Spiderant, and Meat-Thief the Jabber attack the retreating Nevermores. Although they are too big for them to handle, Flak releases his GAMMA BURST to all three of his pets turning them into big beasts. Mr. Chew does what he does best - chewing the faces of the Grimm, while Broodless uses her drill and her forelimbs to rapidly pierce the enemies, however, unlike the two beasts, the alien monkey takes out it's rocket launcher and fires rockets from a distance, blowing the Nevermore into pieces, all the while snickering hysterically. Afterwards, the beasts run off to support the rest of the team.

As Flak continues to fire his sniper rifle a rampaging Goliath arrives charging at the unsuspecting sniper, but the Goliath didn't feel metal crushing beneath it's feet, it looks around to find the sniper is already gone and appears from a distance after triggering 'FADE AWAY' (can be invisible for a short time), dropping his sniper rifle and extends his arms and hands outwards like a priest giving a blessing, but instead of that, he casts two bright red portals from his hand spawning a swarm of fiery Rakks (RAKK ATTACK!). For the ones native in Remnant that have no clue about a Rakk is:

[According to Hammerlock's Almanac] _"Rakks are flying creatures native to Pandora. They do not have beaks. Instead, they have a flat, fleshy head ending with a pointed snout, with a brightly colored, bony plate on the top, and hooked, rasping barbs lining a soft, slit-like mouth on the bottom. Rakks do not have grasping claws or lower limbs, and instead have a set of curved, razor-sharp talons upon a flexible tail that they use to adhere to rocky surfaces."_

" **Sky's fury!** ", he bellows as he watches the Rakks soar in the sky, and divebomb to the Goliath, specifically trying to take out the eyes or that white thing attached to them.

But the attack did little to no damage, however it's purpose for blinding it temporarily has definitely succeeded. The Goliath staggers back brushing off the side effect and the other Rakks with it's massive trunk.

" **MOZE! -** ", he turns to the Gunner, finishing up a Grimm with her Vladof assault rifle.

* * *

" - I GOT THIS ONE! DONT'CHA WORRY!", she takes out her Lucian's Call and lets loose a hail of bullets at the Goliath, successfully getting it's attention. She smirks as she jumps in the air and summons her mech again this time with two Iron Bear fists, the mech clanks it's fists together.

"Alright big guy, TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME - RRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!", she lets out a war cry, charging at the Goliath at full speed. However the giant Grimm lifts itself on it's back, trying to time it with enough distance to destroy the Mech, only for the Mech to jump and boosts a little forward to gain close distance and before the Goliath could strike, the Mech delivers a devastating uppercut at the Goliath's belly, and with the help of the pneumatic upgrade from the fist, sending it flying a few meters, the Mech recoils it's other fist back throws a straight punch, this time with more force, the Goliath deforested a small section.

The Mech slowly approaches the Goliath Grimm struggling to get back up, Moze exits the Iron Bear and tosses a Vladof grenade right in front of the Goliath, which lets out a small flamethrower that burns the beast and a small proximity of the Emerald Forest, but she didn't care about the forest, since all she's good at is burning things to the ground, especially trees. Moze hops back into her mech's secondary turret and turns to another group of Beowulves and Boarbatusks. As the second wave charge at the Gunner, Moze massacres the stupid Grimm from a distance, all while her BFF punches the living daylights out on any who comes close to them down to the last monster.

* * *

As the music ends, the new team ceased their attacks. Moze hops out of Iron Bear and checks if there's anything damaged, Amara sighs as she reloads her SMG, Zane, is just using his Digi-Clone to give him a back massage with the stock of the assault rifle, moaning in relief as this is just temporary relief until he finds a good spa. Flak, on the other hand, calls his beasts over and gives them treats, all the while checking them if they have any injuries sustained from the fight.

Once they are done fixing themselves up and Zane picking up his portable loudspeaker "Allllllllright! - So, yer the youngun's that need helpin'.", the old man crosses his arms with his hand cupping his chin, observing them.

"Uhh - are you guys Hunters and Huntresses?", Jaune Arc steps up, albeit nervous to have some backbone at them.

Nora gasps Zane, hearing his accent, "AREYOUAREAPIRATE?!".

The 4 exchange glances at finally back at the teenagers. And they all said the same thing. "Wh **at**?"


	4. Nevermore, Forevermore

The 4 Vault Hunters exchange glances at finally back at the teenagers. And they all said the same thing. "Wh **at**?.

"Wait, so you're not Hunters and Huntresses?", Ruby raises an eyebrow at them, despite the mech girl saved her, she's still skeptical about them, especially the tall robot dressed like a hobo and his alien pets climbing on his back, and the female brawler that looks powerful than Yang even without her gauntlets, Ember Celica.

Moze steps up to them. "No! We're not! - We're Vau - ".

Suddenly Zane smiles while pushing Moze out of the way, "Weeeeeee areeeeee ~ THE NOBODIES! ~ ", due to his decades of mercenary experience, he knows how to lie at all types of people - including teenagers, but through the years it has been a trial-and-error, so in Zane's head, he's literally crossing fingers hoping they'll buy it and based on the utterly amazed yet confused looks of the 8 teenagers, they REALLY did bought it.

Ren tilts his head to the side. "Nobodies?"

Zane extends his arms outward to the side, with a big smile, "NOBODIES! - WE'RE JUST TASKED BY YER GOOD-NATURED AND SUBTLELY UNHINGED HEADMASTER TO PROTECT YA' - ".

Weiss sassily places her hands on her waist, "Protect us? - From the Grimm wave?! Ugh, honestly, we could've handled it ourselves, thank you very much!", she narrows her eyes at the semi-retired Irish hitman.

" **But you are, how do you humans say this? - "Too chicken" to jump out of that bird Grimm, yes? If that was only one - how much more if you can take on a big wave such as the one you all just saw? Besides, the Headmaster told us that you eight are novices, first-year students, and we're here to assist you all on your way back to Beacon Academy. Granted if we all make it out alive here without any map nor guidance, then we all resort to primal survival and worst case scenario - cannibalism.** "

Jaune yelps at the last word, sending chills down his spine. "C-C-C-CANNIBALISM?! - You're not serious, are you?".

However, Moze lets out a tired sigh and turns to him with a small frown, now knowing this is the one who screamed earlier that yelped that made her antsy in the first place. "Relax, knight boy. Our friend here is just kidding! Clearly you haven't seen a lot of action, have you?".

Pyrrha stands between her and Jaune with a stern look. "Forgive him, Jaune is new to the Initiation, but I know he'll have his fair share of combat". she turns to Jaune with a small smile, "I believe in him.", Jaune merely smiles at Pyrrha sheepishly, but embarrassed that a girl is defending him in his stead.

Moze merely rolls her eyes around at the two, and glances back at Nora, who is gleaming at them. "'What the hell are you looking at, hammer-girl?"

"THE MECH! - I WANNA SEE THE MECH! - THE BIG BOY WITH THE ROCKETS!", Nora jumps up and down with glee, wanting to see some giant mech action right here, right now.

"Uhh - sorry kiddo, Fuel's still recharging, may take a while to bring it back. What're your names by the way? Just so we can place a tombstone if we all don't make it out.", Moze jokingly smirks at them.

"NORAAAA! - CAN WE BE BEST FRIENDS?! - ", she jumps at Moze, which is sometimes her way of greeting cool strangers, but her partner pulls her away.

"Lie Ren. And I am really sorry about her, she tends to like a lot of things - preferably the ones that cause explosions.", the young man wearing a Chinese-aesthetic tries to settle Nora down.

"I am Pyrrha Nikos, and this is Jaune Arc.", she motions her hand at the, blonde knight timidly waving at them while hiding behind her. "H-Hi guys.".

Amara then turns to Yang, who steps forward to the Vault Hunters, "I'm Yang, and this is my sister, Ruby. The one with the bow over there is Blake and that ice queen is Weiss. - "

" - Schnee! Weiss Schnee!", she corrects Yang in a snark way. That alone made the Vault Hunters mentally roll their eyes around since they have dealt with prissy-ass people like Weiss before, especially Katagawa Jr. from the Maliwan Corporation, the late Handsome Jack of the Hyperion Corporation during their time in the Handsome Jackpot, and many other corporate and rich bastards that share the same pride as Ms. Snow White here.

"Great. So much for peace and quiet.", the old man sighs in defeat but then he hears the distant screech of the Nevermore flying above them, but the Grimm flies to the old mountainous ruins, but this ruin is covered in thick mist, especially at the very top. "Sssssshite - you gotta be fecking kidding me. Flak!?" he turns to the robot.

" **In my defense my Monocle has only 8 shots, and it seems the Grimm is far more smarter and agile than I imagined. Nonetheless, we must kill it -** ", he turns to the students. " **\- Everyone, take what you need and let's finish this.** "

The 8 students grab their corresponding chess pieces and they follow the Vault Hunters to the Mountainous Ruins where the sole Grimm is using the mist to its advantage.

* * *

Once they have arrived at the Cliff Ruins, the soldier observes the unsavory terrain and growls in frustration, "ARGH! - COME ON, THE MOMENT THERE'S ONE GRIMM LEFT - THERE'S ALWAYS A DAMN FUCKING MIST!", the Gunner yells as she kicks the dirt, accidentally at Meat-Thief, which then throws a bigger pile of dirt at Moze. She then growls in anger and tries to catch it so she can beat it's face with her the handle of her combat knife.

Blake spots the Nevermore heading to a large ruin, with all sorts of high advantage they can use to defeat it. "Well, that's the last one - you four wanna take this or - ".

Zane groans as he suddenly hears another crack in his body, "Well it's no different from the Father of Eagles back in Gehenna, at least I can now tell that's evil and like what tin can said, a bit smart. But right now, me back's still achin' - How about ya' shiteheads?", he turns to his team.

Moze checks Iron Bear's cooldown and sighs in disappointment. "Mech's still recharging. And I can't do suppressing fire when I'm blind.".

Amara scratches the side of her head, "My Phasegrasp can't reach that high. Damn it."

However, Flak narrows his eye at the Nevermore, tracking it down with precision. " **The fog may be too thick to place a few accurate shots, but I think my sensors can detect it's position through this mist.** ", he then turns to the 8 teenagers with their weapons. " **I assume this is where you all work together. I'll back you all up in the -** "

"FLAK, WATCH OUT!" The Nevermore attacks Flak, damaging his head, and knocking him over, he gets up unfazed but the Nevermore knocked his thermal sensors out, thus not being able to detect the Grimm from approaching.

"I GOT IT! - " Ruby takes out Crescent Rose and fires a bullet at the flying Nevermore, only to injure it, clipping one of its wings, yet the Nevermore still flies around them.

"You alright, tin can!? THIS IS WHY I FECKING HATE BIRDS!", Zane screams to himself while assessing his friend's health and picks him back up, since Flak has suffered quite the pain over their experiences from dealing with the damned COV cult.

" **Shield merely blocked me - but the talons' force jogged my thermal vision out of my processor - it seems we lost our one and only shot for spotting the Grimm.** "

"Thermal or no, there's twelve of us and one of that! Nothing could possibly go wrong! - ", the blonde party girl confidently smirks at them.

But as Yang said that - they heard another Grimm wave coming in, this is time it's smaller than the one they fought, but with Moze's mech still in the recharge, unable to confront the Grimm with a full-on offensive, it's time to think defensive.

Blake merely gives her a dead look, "You just had to say it, did you?".

"AHH FUCKING CLICHES! - THEY ALWAYS RUIN EVERYTHING!", Moze yells at herself as she loads her assault rifle again, and glances at Team JNPR. "Jaune, Pira, Ren, Nora, Flak, you're with me. Zane, Amara, go with the four girls and distract that goddamn bird.", Moze orders the whole squadron behind her, just like when she led the greenies throughout her years of working with Vladof.

"Got it - we'll ECHO you once we're done with it. Come on, old man.", Amara smirks at Zane before going with Team RWBY to face the Nevermore.

"But I'm scared of - AH FOOK THIS!", the Operative merely takes out his pistol and catches up with them.

* * *

Moze takes out her Lucian's Call again and aims it at the wave of Beowulves, she sees Jaune crying, but Flak, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha are ready to fight. "Alright, let's set up a defensive perimeter.", she points to the Team JNPR. "Pyrrha, Flak, find vantage points to back us up! - Ren, Nora, let's go 'aggro' on these dickweeds.".

" - 'Aggro'? What's that supposed to - ", but before Ren could get an answer from the Gunner, she lets out a war cry as she charges at the Beowulf wave, while unleashing bullets at the Grimm calling it herself a 'Rushin' Offensive', and firing the weapon with reckless abandon is one of the standard tactics of the Vladof Corporation (spray-and-pray). Moze then takes out a Storm Front grenade (made by the Vladof corporation) and throws one at the middle of the incoming wave. At first it was nothing, but several child grenades pop out of from the first grenade and all of them releases a continuous streams of electricity, electrocuting them to death.

Ren then turns to Nora, "Ah - I see. Nora, let's - ".

" - DAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AS THE OFFICIAL QUEEN OF THE CASTLE, WE SHALL CHARGE WITH THE MIGHTY DAMSEL! ONWARD TO GLOOORY! ~ ", she then launches herself with her Magnhild in the air, then switching to a grenade launcher firing at the Grimm, killing a number of them by herself and landing on top of a dead body, with a perfect landing, but 4 Beowulves appear behind her ready to pop out, only to be mauled by Flak's pets and killed by Flak himself, hiding behind a column.

Meanwhile, Meat-Thief, an alien jabber, takes out his own rocket launcher from his backpack and starts firing rockets from a distance. Which catches Nora's attention. "A MONKEY WITH A ROCKET LAUNCHER! - THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIIIIIIIFE! ~", she and Meat-Thief blow up Grimm left and right with grins on their faces.

On the other hand, Jaune is running away from the Beowulf, while blocking it's attacks with his shield, but he trips down, letting go of his one and only protection. "Uh-oh - ", yet the Beowulf let out a roar before dying, killed by Ren. Ren then grabs Jaune's hand, picking his teammate up. "Come on, there's only a little amount of Grimm left."

"Th-Thanks for that, almost stained my pants there.", Jaune thanks Ren with another sheepish smile before the young man charges at the Grimm again, leaving Jaune behind. "I guess that's 'you're welcome' . . . okay.", he slumps on his shoulders, a bit sad, but that was short-lived as he begins to charge at the Beowulf with Pyrrha fighting it from above, slashing it with his mighty sword, attacking it from both sides.

* * *

At the cliffs, Team RWBY, Zane and Amara head to the cliff ruins and found the Nevermore flying above the area, letting out screams of pain periodically. As the other girls look around for the Nevermore, Zane narrows his eyes at the sky, only to see the Nevermore charging down at them. "OI! - INCOMING!", he spawns his Digi-Clone and takes out his Nemesis pistol and starts shooting at the Nevermore - followed by Amara with her, and the rest of the team RWBY, firing all of their weapons.

"ALRIGHT! COME HERE YOU!", Amara casts a Phasegrasp at the Nevermore, spawning a giant magic arm from the ground and surround the giant flying Grimm with a dark blue ball, holding it's position. She smirks at her catch but the Nevermore can still move inside the Phasegrasp, spewing it's sharp feathers at the Siren.

"GET DOWN! - ", Yang pushes Amara down on the ground, saving her from the from the Nevermore's attack, but Amara's focus on the Phasegrasp is severed, thus breaking the Nevermore free and flies up to the skies once more.

"Thanks for the save, blondie, but I had my shield on. Those feathers are nothing.", Amara is being helped by Yang.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't save you from a huge fall, right?", Yang and Amara glances at the edge of the bridge, with the Siren brawler winces a bit, clearly she didn't saw that one since she was pre-occupied with the threat in front of her. She then stands up with the rest of the group and still sees the Nevermore still flying around, planning it's next attack.

"It's tougher than it looks.", Blake utters while watching it fly.

"Then let's give it all we've got!", Yang jumps on top of a column and starts shooting it with Ember Cecilica, meanwhile Blake fires her Gambol Shroud, from cover to cover while using her rope and grapple to maneuver around the area.

"None of this is working!", Weiss complains as their attacks was supposed to work as intended, whilst firing at the Grimm from a distance.

Ruby tries to compose herself for a second and seeing Blake with her long grapple and Yang standing in the column. Then she then turns to Weiss, wide-eyed.

"I have a plan! - "

"- I HAVE A PLAN! - Uh, jinx?", Zane stares at Ruby with an unsure expression.

* * *

"OIII - YA' BLACK CHICKEN NUGGET! OVER 'ERE!", the old man calls for the attention of the Nevermore, spotting Zane behind a large cliff. With Team RWBY and Amara, nowhere else to be found, the Nevermore charges at Zane with full force, letting out a blood-curling shriek.

"Alright - TIME FER' SOME HEAD GAMES!", Zane does the iconic 'Freddie Mercury' pose, raising the remote in the air with his head hung low, pressing the 'Swap' button, changing places with the decoy placed earlier, letting the Nevermore kill the clone and lands on the ground trying to get itself back up, but in turn of the decoy was a belt of incendiary grenades, damaging it severely. Zane goes to Amara, popping out of cover and tossing a Barrier Dome to protect both of them. "HAHAAAAA! - NOW, AMARA!"

"TAKE TWO, BITCH!", of which Amara times it with another cast of Phasegrasp, now with full focus, then turns to Team RWBY. "GIRLS! YOU'RE UP!".

Yang and Blake climb onto two adjacent columns, using Gambol Shroud as an elastic strap with Weiss at the back, readying her Glyphs, and finally Ruby being the projectile, ready to be launched. "Of course you would come up with this idea."

"Think you can make the shot?", Ruby turns to Weiss.

"Hmph, can I?"

.

.

.

Ruby raises her eyebrows a bit, confused and glances back at her. "Can you? - "

"Of course, I can!", Weiss rolls her eyes around.

Ruby loads Crescent Rose and launches herself to the Nevermore, with Weiss' boost. She then hooks the Nevermore with the curved blade and lands on the cliff wall thanks to Weiss glyph. The Ice Queen summons a path of Glyphs for Ruby, and using Ruby's Semblance which is speed, using the force itself along with firing bursts from her weapon in big boosts, enough to decapitate the Nevermore, finally killing it.

The flying Grimm's body falls down from the cliff edge. Zane and Amara regroup with the three girls, with the former smirking and stroking his beard. "Now that's what I call a successful operation!", however that is short-lived when he hears a distant whirring behind him, coming form the forest.

* * *

As they have defeated the second Grimm wave the four teenagers cheer in victory while Flak rendezvous with his pets, checking again if they have suffered any injuries and reloading his Monocle. Suddenly, Moze's ECHO acts up, which attracts Flak's glance at her, wondering about Zane and Amara. " _Moze, the fookin' burned chicken is dead, but there's a weird ass dropship heading towards ya' - just a heads up._ ", Zane radios Moze from the top cliffs.

"Copy, can see it from here. You guys better come down there.", Moze and Flak, along with Team JNPR glances at the dropship which is just a Bullhead flying above them and lands nearby on a suitable location. As they all gather around, they meet the pilot in the cockpit giving them a friendly salute, which is a nice thing to see here in this damned forest. Teams RWBY and JNPR head inside the Bullhead, especially Jaune, who now feels safe after the whole mess in the Initiation.

However the Vault Hunters merely stayed outside the Bullhead talking to each other. Jaune glances at Yang, "What are they talking about?". Yang merely shrugs her shoulders, since the engine is blocking off their noise, thankfully, the Bullhead pilot exits the aircraft and walks towards the Vault Hunters, each of them with a stern look, like they were talking about something.

"You four are requested by Headmaster Ozpin in Beacon Academy, in order to get your compensation for your assistance here in Beacon's Initiation - but you'll have to surrender your weapons - "

" - AAAAAAAND THAT'S where we take off, ya' know, ya' had us at 'compensation' - but ya' fucked up when ya' told us to drop our weapons. Clearly we're being set-up, and I know yer good students are goody-goody little two shoes, but I know we're bein' played fer' a fool 'ere. I've seen and been through jobs like this and that's rather amateur for you to say that. Anyways, ya' can keep them rewards and we'll be out of yer hair in no - ", Zane rambles on as he turns back on his team, walking the opposite direction of the Bullhead.

But the pilot steps up from his position. " - That request was from Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch, - ", however he sees moonwalking back to his exact location and smoothly turns to the pilot, raising an eyebrow.

"Head . . . mistress? - Can I see a photo of her?", his voice this time is rather low and serious, curious about Glynda.

The pilot casually takes out a small brochure, and gives it to the team. "Here - I have this brochure for Beacon Academy - it show the different staff members. I also work as a tourist guide around Remnant but since I went to Aviator School, I'm also one of the Beacons' Bullhead pilots."

The Vault Hunters look at the staff, but Zane saw the portrait of Glynda Goodwitch and takes a deep breath, looking away of the picture. "I've seen enough . . . I retract my statement earlier - we're going to Beacon Academy!", he yells with enthusiasm, in contrast to his declined response earlier.

* * *

Moze facepalms so hard, they all heard the slap. Amara lets out an annoyed sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose, and Flak is just standing - looking at Zane with a bitch face, and for a robot he does a good job at it. Once the Vault Hunters aboard the Bullhead along with the pilot, they slowly fly from the Cliff Ruins and fly away back to Beacon Academy.

"YAAAAAY! ~ NEWFRIENDS! ~ ", Ruby and Nora yell together as they approach the Vault Hunters. But Ruby turns to a little skag, staring at her curiously. Ruby crouches down, "D'awwww ~ who's a cute wittle - EEP!", she yelped as the skag barks happily at her, despite it's frightful face-mouth, which made Ruby's skin tingle.

But the skag stops barking as it slowly turns to the Master, gently petting him. " **Settle down, Mr. Chew - these people are allies. - You can play with them, but not too much.** ", at first the skag whimpers a bit before jumping happily around Flak. But Flak slowly turns to Ruby, " **Do not worry about Mr. Chew - he's . . . not from around here. Sort of an extinct species.** ", the robot, after working in the archives and gained sentience, he has the ability to fabricate statements, or lie, to other people - but it's either a complete lie or he says it in a different context, like the one time they had to help Tumorhead free Bloodshine, only for said Bloodshine to blow up, thus they all lied to Tumorhead.

"Umm o-o-okay, I'll just stay here! . . . H-Hi - your friends call you Flak, right?", she asks with a smile.

" **Yes, I am known as Flak. I hunt things. Animals. People. Animals and People. Basically anything that proves a worthy foe. I am Beastmaster, from a - far away land.** "

"Like Mistral?", Blake asks, holding her Gambol Shroud, still skeptical about the Vault Hunters at the back of her head.

" **Yes. Like 'Mistral'.** ", Flak slowly turns to Blake, trying to avoid showing signs of lying thanks to amounts of research on human behavior, and sometimes being fooled by Zane who is usually the one lying to their faces, but recently, they've figured out how Zane's telling the truth or not - so at least they've learned a lot the hard way. But Flak notices something odd about Blake, how she's the silent one out of the 8 classmates, something . . . beastly and animalistic about her. Only time will tell.

"Are you - um still alright? After that Nevermore surprise attack? I mean robots can't feel pain, but . . . um - ", Ruby is a bit nervous since she's literally facing a dangerous looking robot with ragged clothing and very much taller than her or anyone in this Bullhead.

" **I am rather doing fine - what happened back there was a mishap. Or that was just bad writing of a certain - nevermind, the point is - We all survived in one piece and my last conditional statement wasn't fulfilled, it's best not to dwell into it much further. - So, you are the one with scythe - care to tell me a little bit about yourself?** ", Ruby goes back to her cheery gleam and starts talking about herself, Yang, Blake and Weiss all the while, the Bullhead flying to Beacon Academy in the distance.


	5. Ozpin Says

As the Bullhead lands on the hangar of the Beacon Academy, the 8 teenagers step off the Bullhead with novice Huntsman and Huntresses being all happy and relieved, but they see the other students have gained the other pieces and step off the other Bullhead, awaiting them is two old men one is a short, fat man with quite a mustache similar to Sir Hammerlock's, and a tall skinny man with frazzled green hair wearing reading glasses and holding a thermos, the other students then head to the main area where the ceremony will be held. But as they step off they see Ozpin and Glynda waiting for them, both with stern looks and a large black briefcase beside Ozpin, not at the students but the new Vault Hunters behind them. Ruby is the first one to approach them and cheerly smiles.

"We're all set, Headmaster Ozpin! ~ ", Ruby smiles as she extends the piece to him.

Ozpin smiles and motions to Glynda, who takes out a small box, and one by one she takes the pieces of the 8 students, who also raised extended their pieces so both of the headmasters can see it. Once that's done, Glynda closes the box and stands beside Ozpin. "Good work, students, you eight will be attending our ceremony to finally bestow you the title of Huntsmen and Huntresses.", he then glances at the four Vault Hunters staring at him and Glynda, especially Flak, which he can't tell whether he's just looking . . . or scanning them both for capable strengths or weaknesses.

Ruby and Nora jumps in glee. "YAAAY! ~ ", Ruby turns to her friends, "COME ON, GUYS! ~ ", she nudges her head before speeding off to the academy.

"HEY! - WAIT FOR US, SIS!", Yang along with the rest of the students rush to catch up to Ruby, leaving the Vault Hunters with the Headmasters. Zane smirks while glancing at them.

"Well, the young'uns 'ere are a bit giddy fer' that ceremony of yours, I guess they earned it after dealin' with those friggin' Grimm.", but he then shifts his eyes to Glynda, and immediately adjusts his dark blue jacket with yellow lining and approaches Glynda with a simple, yet subtlety flirtatious smile, "I mean, they are good students - but I'm really the one who did all the dirty - ", just then Flak, not wanting to leave a bad impression of the Vault Hunters and the Crimson Raiders overall, drags Zane away from Glynda with his jacket and throws him elsewhere, with one hand, letting Ozpin and Glynda see that this robot is also strong in of itself.

" **GO FETCH!** ", just then the little pets see Zane landing nearby face first, groaning, but before Zane could get up they immediately chase after him. He sighs as he deploys a Digi-Clone of himself playing dead. He walks back to the Vault Hunters, still smiling and unfazed with that part, while Flak's are busy falling ravaging the pretending clone, trying to drag it back to their master.

"W-W-WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!", Glynda takes out The Disciplinarian and aims it at Flak's pets, obviously afraid because she hasn't seen those types of species before, especially not here in Remnant since one of their staff members, Professor Peter Port, is very familiar with the wildlife both natural and unnatural, like the Grimm.

However she is eased by Amara, "Calm down, miss. They're friendly, they belong to him.", she points to the tall Beastmaster, of which he does a formal bow at them, glancing at Ozpin. But before Flak could speak, Zane, a bit like Ruby, swoops to interrupt them, "SO! - you are the Headmaster in this biggun' of a 'teach'? Not bad fer the architecture, at least ya' can kill a dumb lad with one of them pointy bits.", Zane narrows his eyes at the Beacon Academy looking around it's structure from the outside, but he'll have to do more diggin' on the inside.

Ozpin steps forward to face them. "Yes, I am the one who guided you during in the Initiation in Emerald Forest. Welcome to Beacon Academy."

Moze scoffs at the statement, and turns to him. "Initiation? Emerald Forest? Couldn't you just call it . . . 'Forest'? Or 'Training Area'? I mean it ain't cool, but it makes a little bit more sense. Plus if I were a damn Headmaster of a school full of noobs, I may as well put some friggin' boundaries and not just hidden security cameras like an unhinged stalker. I mean I know you want them to be 'initiative' or 'teamwork' and all that, but there's limits.", the former soldier crosses her arms with a stern look.

"Noted. But although I am pleased to see you all here, I think the compensation is in order.", Ozpin takes out the briefcase and opens it and shows the contents inside, which is . . .

"Uuhhh . . . is that what I think it is?", Amara raises an eyebrow at the contents.

" **Currency. Obviously it bears similarities to ours. Quite uncanny for a planet like this.** ", Flak takes out one dollar and compares it to the one in the briefcase, and puts it back in his storage.

"Yes. Very uncanny. What you're all looking right now is our main currency here in Remnant; Lien. It is used all over the 4 Kingdoms and as much it is not for me to reward strange mercenaries, let alone hire a small group spontaneously, I believe you four will make good use of it, as I seek to train my students, not to wring them dry of their finance."

Moze then closes the case and takes it. "Well, if we need to survive around this planet - we may as well get some starting cash, right? It's like one of those ECHO games where they give you some starting pack to get a good experience of it . . . or something. Whatever, thanks though."

Zane snaps his eyes to Ozpin with a confused face. "What? - No, awesome legendaries? No sweet loot? - "

"We're not that kind of people to sell all sorts of weapons, you may as well heading to the Northern Kingdom to find some, though I doubt you'll survive the harsh weather and their security there. So yes, this is your reward, mister.", Glynda scowls at the old man, thinking at least he may have some sense despite being the oldest in the strange group.

"Glynda, please.", Ozpin calms Glynda down and goes back to the team. "Well since you four are here, you may as well follow me to the backstage of the academy, we're about to award our students to start their journey here in Beacon.", the two Headmasters head out first, walking back inside.

The Vault Hunters exchange glances and shrug their shoulders, since this is a brand new location, and made a few connections with the locals, they may as well do so and follow them to the backstage.

* * *

Once they are in the backstage, they can see a perfect view of the students are being announced and being made in teams. While watching and waiting for the Headmasters to finish their ceremony, Flak is hugging his pets while they all take a nap, while Amara leans back against a wall and watches as team CRDL has been formed. Meanwhile, Zane and Moze can see the number of students from a perfect view, with the former taking out his flask and gulps down a drink only to find it empty now. "Well shite, looks like I'm dry.", he sighs as takes his eyes off the event he looks at a blank slate of a wall behind him, "Still remembering those time we've been here in this damn backstage before, like that part of the Jakobs mansion. Still odd fer' a puzzle about yer' favorite movie."

The Gunner stares at the the other teams stepping up. "C'mon, you can't blame for Typhon for being such a popular figure - I mean there's always that one person being used for a cash cow. Kinda like Amara."

"At least I don't have to punch him fer' that friggin' ECHO game that lets you use your surroundings as your own map, I always get the sweet stuff in your room."

She half-glances at him instantly. "WAIT - IS THAT WHY YOU'RE ALWAYS GOING INSIDE MY ROOM UNATTENDED?! - Because of that game?", thankfully her yelling is blocked by the noises in the ceremony, but Zane can hear loud and clear.

"Yeah, it's my favorite to pass the time, and you always ruin it because I always enter your room and perfect timin', with you in a bath towel. I ain't the one who made the game, but if I was you, I would've beaten that boyo instead.", he continues to stare at the students, and mostly Glynda with a blank look.

Moze suddenly realizes and felt a little bit bad for putting Zane down like that. "O-Oh . . . that's, uhm, my bad."

"No apologies needed, it's just a game, Moze! I found a new one already that's been updated.", he smirks at the Gunner before his ECHO starts to act up. A transmission from Tannis. "Guys, it's Tannis!". Flak and Amara immediately stopped what they were doing and heads to their Irish hitman. Once they were all together, Zane answers the call, "Oi! - Tannis, lass!".

Initially, it was just static but it gradually dies down, thus hearing Tannis' voice loud and clear, along with the new option of video calling in the new ECHO-3. "Ah, there you are four, I'm currently here with Sir Hammerlock going on and off on a very scrupulous debate about cheese being the cure for hangnail cancer, anyways are you all alright? No severe injuries, mental impairments, or whatsoever?"

"We're all good here Tannis, but as for where we are . . . well, this one's gonna be a doozy.". The Vault Hunters tell them about Beacon, the Headmasters, and the students and guns that can turn into melee weapons, and Flak talks about the Grimm's ferocity and their aggressive nature.

"Well, that is quite the information, but since you claim to be safe there in Beacon Academy, I may takes that as a success and proceed onto our next mission; a proper foothold. Ellie has developed a new Fast Travel pod that can help you transport from Remnant to Sanctuary 3 and vice-versa, not only that we can also send reinforcements and supplies to help you out down there, and most importantly, this new pod with land PROPERLY and not crash violently like Katie did onto me on our honeymoon."

The four Vault Hunters have faces of disgust as soon as they heard that, like why would she ever blatantly say that in front of people. Like shagging a minecart isn't something to flex or even talk about, in fact, that belongs to 'Pretty Fucking Weird Fetishes' category, but this is Tannis they are talking to, obviously she's a unique case.

Zane removes the thought of that from his head and turns to the ECHO recorder, "Right. Right. So you want us to find somewhere safe to pinpoint it and land the Fast-Travel there?"

"Exactly! ~ But, since that is a civilized academy, ruled by a proper management it's safe to say that you'll need their permission before you can continue with your mission onward, you've helped them once and gave you a meager reward, why not use that as leverage? Use more mouth stuff, instead of gun stuff", the doctor suggests at the Operative

Zane strokes his beard while thinking, fortunately convincing someone is his forte, whether it's in or out of context. "Hmmm, I mean Ozpin's just like everyone else in this damned planet only more wise, I think it's doable, just let me handle it and we'll get ourselves a proper area where the Crimson Raiders can go around here.".

"Fantastic, once you have accomplished your missions be sure to contact us as early as you can, Sir Hammerlock and I will come down there with you shortly. Farewell, for the cheese debate must go on.", the doctor ends the transmission. And once the transmission was done, so was the ceremony with all of the students and the staff members applauding the newly appointed teams.

Zane then hides his ECHO device, in his jacket as soon as Ozpin and Glynda arrives. "Well now that is finished, we shall head into the Headmasters Office, there we can further discuss in your time here in Beacon.", they head on first, taking point for the Vault Hunters.

"Eh, always rely on the private offices fer private businesses - I mean, there was this one time with sitting on a desk in a Torgue company, actually there was no desk . . . everything just blew up on the first day.", Zane widens his eyes on the realization.

"Really? Everything exploded? Including the building?", Amara turns to Zane in disbelief.

"YEAH! - ALL OF IT! THOSE ARE ONE OF 'EM MOMENTS WHERE I NEARLY MET THE GRIM FOOKIN' REAPER! - AND I KNOW FER' A FACT THAT TORGUE EQUALS EXPLOSIONS! I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!"

" **And this is why humans with mental issues tend to have a shorter lifespan than the intelligent ones.** ", Flak narrows just spoke with a bland look, while following the Headmasters.

But Ruby, after Yang tells her that she'll get her stuff and she should catch up with her, she spots the Vault Hunters heading with Ozpin and Glynda heading to the Headmasters' Office. Ruby thinks about it as she is curious as to who they really are.

* * *

But as the ceremony ends with celebration, somewhere within Vale a man slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye.

He wears a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band.

He takes a lighter and lights up his thick cigar just as a man wearing a standard uniform delivering him a trolley of metal crates. The orange-haired man glances at the boxes. "Open it."

The goon does so and reveals to him the Dust illegally stored inside, he grabs one and inspects it. "We're gonna need more men . . . "

* * *

In the halls of Beacon Academy, Yang feels great from the successful Initiation and decides to celebrate by buying her favorite snack as she walks around the hallway grabbing a few stuff with her, as she goes to her new room - when suddenly she sees Ruby walking all alone to the elevator Yang narrows her eyes and follows her sister, with a sly smirk.

Once Ruby arrives at the elevator doors, she carefully looks around her, and presses the UP button, calling the elevator down, looking all worried and

Yang lurks behind her sister and immediately places her both of her hands on her little sister's shoulders, "HI RUBY - "

"GYAAAH - YANG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Ruby yelled as she backs off from her, and sighs knowing she's been got either way, she's fast, but she's not very good at being discrete.

"Hmmmm - I should say that to you, what are YOU doing here? - You are the leader of our team, aren't you proud of that?", she places her hands on her waist, with a pout on her face.

Ruby bashfully twirls her thumbs, "W-Well I wanna see Headmaster Ozpin, but remember the other people that helped us? And that robot?"

The party girl raises an eyebrow at her, "You mean the nobodies? I mean they are just help - why would it matter? It's not like they are important to us".

"Because they look like they don't belong here?", Yang yelps as two of her teammates, Blake and Weiss surprise the sisters along with the rest of the Team JNPR, all of them equally curious as the who they really are. "The unknown mech on that soldier, the giant arms and glowing tattoos from that girl, the advanced tech from that weird old man, and -

" - AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE MONKEY WITH THE GIANT ROCKET LAUNCHER! - ", Nora interrupts from the back, followed by Ren calming her down.

" - . . . and who can forget the tall mysterious robot with alien species that we don't even know about, I'm from Mistral and it's full of weird creatures there, none of those things exist . . . unless they are either from Vacuo or here in Vale, which is very unlikely.".

Pyrrha steps forward, "All of those factors Blake said means that those guys are not from Remnant - but I could be wrong. We could be wrong."

"Aren't you guys curious as to who they really are? I mean Flak is a super cool robot! - He may be our first alien encounter!", Ruby turns to her friends all giddy.

Jaune raises his hand, "Well I mean the soldier girl is cool and all - ", however he is shoved away by Nora, " - BUT I WANNA SEE HER MECH! - I WANNA BE BOOM BUDDIES WITH HER! AND THAT FRIGGIN' MONKEY WITH A ROCKET LAUNCHER! WE CAN FORM AN EXPLOSION TEAM, DAMN IT!", Nora chimes in.

"And as much I want some answers with that old man as to how he can control the Ice element and has the possibility to outrun Ruby. I'm pretty sure he didn't use any Dust at all to supply it.", Weiss theorizes how a meager old man can have so much fight left in him.

Ruby turns to Yang with the puppy eyes, but Yang sighs in defeat. "Fine. But your puppy eyes didn't work this time, honestly, I wanna meet the chick with the muscles. She seems the 'hard to get' kind of friend. I mean, if I think about it, it's gonna double trouble for the bad guys, am I right?". The brawler Huntress smirks as she cracks her knuckles. "Plus I get to have an equal sparring partner."

"Then that's settled - we go together to the Headmasters' Office and eavesdrop on their conversation. Nothing could possibly go wrong.", Weiss sarcastically remarks as she enters the elevator now open in front of them.

* * *

"So before we start our main conversation here, I would like to start off with introductions.", Ozpin speaks while pouring six mugs of hot coffee, one for each of the Vault Hunters, and two for Glynda and himself. He then sets the the pot down and sits on his chair properly. "I am Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, and this.", he motions his hand to Glynda. " - is Miss Glynda Goodwitch, Headmistress of Beacon Academy. And you must be - "

Zane sniffs the coffee and takes a sip at it, only to nod, impressed by the brewed coffee. He then turns to Ozpin, "Aye - I'm Zane, Zane Flynt. Mercenary, Vault Hunter, and a pretty handsome all-around guy ~ ", he smirks at Ozpin, but Zane could hear Glynda from the side scoffed at him. "I take any jobs, ranging from janitor to assassinating authorities, criminal kingpins, whatever the shite Life gives me - I'll take it . . . long as the pay is good.", he ends with a a bit dark and greedy tone. "If ya' wanna know about me though . . . ya' have ta' earn it ~ ", he does a flirty wink at Glynda.

"Two of the things I loathe the most. Flirting mercenaries. Wonderful.", Glynda rolls her eyes at Operative as she drinks a portion of her mug.

"Come on, lass, I may be a rogue, but I'm a Lovable Rogue. And if charms don't work as they used to - at least I have me wingmans 'ere by me 'sides - GUHAAAWWW!", he groans as he is elbowed by Moze, " - Me ribs . . . ugghh - ". Ignoring Zane's groan of pain, Ozpin and Glynda glance at the Gunner, who just casually down her coffee like a parched soldier on a desolate planet.

"Sorry, about him, his mouth tends to run faster than his brain, but he's a one hell of gun on our team, no denying that - I'm Moze, former Gunner 1st Class of the Vladof Corporation's Ursa Corps - I know it's a mouthful. But the point is, I'm also a merc - but not as crazy and unhinged as him.", she jerks her thumb at the Operative with blank look. Zane easily shrugs off the pain, cracking his bones around his body until he lets out a relieved sigh.

"Ursa Corps? Vladof Corporation? - Are they not also from Remnant? This is the first time we've heard of it.", Ozpin adjusts his glasses. In his time until the present, he and his own team during the first years of Beacon Academy, they have been scouring about the different areas and organizations that will soon play a big part across Remnant or Vytal, but he has never heard of a 'Vladof Corporation' - based on the name, it's a pretty sizable organization.

"Yep - they're just your standard, 'equal share for everyone' kind of guys, which is ironic since the name is 'Corporation', which is basically capitalism, but what do I know? Well, two things, they are one of the big megacorporations in the six galaxies far from Remnant, - and they just literally sent me on a suicide mission, leaving me the only survivor and may or may not have PTSD. But that's another story I'm not willing to share right now.", she shakes her head both ways, saying no. "But I'm sure FL4K here would be willing to share information about us, right Flak? I mean you don't keep any secrets from us."

As she smiles at the Beastmaster, he merely blinks at Moze. " **Frankly I do have archived memory in my data banks, I guess you could call that secrets, but they have little to no purpose, and releasing it would rather be disappointingly dull. But enough of that, -** ", he turns to Ozpin and Glynda, with both of them rather mildly nervous to see a hulking robot that they have never seen before, not knowing what are it's full functions and where was it created. Flak, however, puts down the mug, incapable of drinking liquid as it may fry his circuits." **\- I am FL4K. As you can see, I am not exactly as you think I am, in fact, judging by your current brain activities acquired by my** **Electroencephalography monitor** **, I assume you both fear me. Not only of my appearance, but my history as well.** "

" - What exactly are you, unit?", Glynda narrows her eyes at the robot, not trusting if this robot belongs to any shady corporation that seeks to harm Remnant, since they have the Grimm and other unspeakable evil

" **First of all, calling me a 'unit' - is mildly insulting. I have a conscience of my own. I have started my learnings of human beings and all sorts of life in general on how they behave in certain environments and circumstances, how they understand the nature of things, and many more that piqued my interests. I use these traits to as you humans say, 'personalize' - and thus I am able to think of my own, and the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively. At first, these may prove useless, but such traits does have it's benefits like loyalty, companionship, and many more so as to not hunt the worthiest foes alone. -** "

" - **And second, my background information is classified, but I shall indulge you a little of it. I am a former indexing unit of an independent location known as the Archives. Yes, the name is quite bland and ambiguous but that was intended to be named that way. In layman's terms, they are just a bunch of librarians, scribes and archivists who are eager to learn about the biology, mathematics, morality, ethics, sorcery, the works . . . it's pretty boring - yet it's tedious work and constant learning I've acquired there have proven useful for my impeccable intelligence. Now I'm just a humble Beastmaster who's mission is to hunt the strongest foes The Hunt has to offer. Yet, I believe Amara here share the same goal as I am.** ", The robot glances at Amara, who is clearly enjoying the coffee, with a big smile, not paying attention to the Headmasters or her team.

He snaps his fingers a bit, only for her to snap from her calm trance, "Oh! - Sorry, it's just that your brewed coffee reminds me of the good coffee in one coffee shop. But Flak is sort of right . . . way before I met them, I'm already a heroine and a celebrity back in my home planet of Partali. Punched, kicked and killed their ugly mugs and gave them quite the example not to fuck with the Tiger.", she smiles at them.

"But if you are hailed as a hero, then why did you leave? - Shouldn't heroes be defending from all evil in one place to protect your loved ones and the planet? You completely broke the basic concept of a hero, now that you are here and leaving what you cherish vulnerable.", Glynda retorts at her.

She sighs as she place the empty coffee cup on the table, clearly she sees Glynda a bit naïve, since everyone has different reasons as to there are some heroes who don't exactly become those cliched protectors - realistically, they'd not go for that. "I don't think our meanings of 'hero' don't align very well. See, I'm not just a hero, I'm an absolute legend. ~ My name is not also a brand name for a leave-in conditioner, which I am also the proud ambassador for it, but my name strikes the very heart of my enemies, just that alone would make them beg for mercy and leave. And if they do overcome that, well . . . let's just say they wouldn't last in a close-up manner.", she cracks her knuckles, gleaming boastfully as she lays herself back in the chair.

"Honestly, I could become a noble guardian, walking around the streets of my home and enjoying life as it is . . . but where's the fun it that? No, no, no. As my agent told me; Legends gotta keep being written, you know? Be reborn, or they die. And I took his advice, and it was plenty of worth it. Sure, I can just go back there in my home, but I've outgrown myself there. And it's better than saving cats on top of trees, signing countless autographs, and being used my mere image as a form of manipulation against other people."

Now it's the Vault Hunters turn to ask the Headmasters of the Academy. He drinks the last of the coffee and the last one to place down the mug. "Speaking of manipulation shite, me wee' self is nagging me about yar' agenda here at the back of me head. SO far, everything has been quite peachy - smiley faces here, smiley faces there, clean halls that makes you wanna be a ballerina instead of killing shite, elegant architecture that I don't really care about, you name it. At first, it's a breath of fresh air than the armpit of a planet that is Pandora . . . But from what I can tell, even a small dirty alleyway can have its secrets . . . So tell me, boyo, what's your deal with this metropolis looking of a school and why do you look like that one DASHINGLY HOT guy from the latest 'Going Commando' issue, when you're technically an old coot like me? - SERIOUSLY! HOW COME YOU DON'T HAVE A BEARD OR A MUSTACHE LIKE I HAVE!? YER' MISSIN' OUT!"

Ozpin takes a last sip of his mug and places it down in front of the four mugs. "Well, I assure you Mr. Flynt, that we are serious about our agenda to train even the most simple dedicated student, into a professional warrior. This has always been and always will be our goal from the get-go. These Grimm, throughout the years - no, decades, they have been ravaging this planet, killing many of it's citizens all across the four kingdoms, and . . . frankly, I don't think there's much time for all said kingdoms to create a united organization to finish off this threat, when they have their own problems and hidden agendas. That's why I must make the future protectors of this world, so the entirety of Remnant can finally be in peace - I know it's an overly ambitious goal but based on your . . . arrival . . . it seems you have quite the history to share with us, yes?"

* * *

As team RWBY and JNPR, sneak their way to the front door of Ozpin's Office, they can hear muffled voices behind the door.

"Well looks like we're here . . . how do you guys wanna do this? Break-in? Accidental mishap?", but before anyone could plan, Blake's bow twitches a bit.

"No . . . I can hear them.", she glances through a small opening at the side of the door, she points at it. "There . . . we should eavesdrop instead, that way, it'd lessen our chances of being spotted."

"Great plan, Blake.", Yang whispers at her and gives a thumbs up before the rest of the teams all huddled together and place their ear gently on the door, and eavesdrop on the conversation.

* * *

Glynda raises her hands a bit to stop, "So let me get this straight: you four are part of a group called the Crimson Raiders, a group of adventurers, outcasts, and mercenaries - that are at war with the Children of the Vault. - "

"WERE at war - besides it was led by two annoyingly bad wannabe demi-gods that want to destroy the universe, they're all dead now. I was the one who killed them both, by the way. Pretty astounding, yeah? ~ ", he smirks to himself, but in reality, it was a team effort that killed the Twin Gods, fortunately they didn't believe him, and even Ozpin only replied with a skeptical 'Hmm',

The headmistress then slowly looks away from the old hitman, " - And you say this occurred within the six galaxies, far from Remnant? How would you know our world is not part of said galaxies?".

Moze takes out a piece of gum from one of her pockets on her leather jacket, rips the wrapper, and starts chewing the cherry-flavored gum, which is slowly getting on Glynda's nerves - if she was a student here, Glynda would've reprimanded her in front of her and Ozpin. "Well, technically, this is an 'outer world' for us - since we've ventured the galaxies over the years much longer than you all do. And since Remnant is the first planet away from our jurisdiction, we can barely recognize anything outside said jurisdiction or galaxy around this planet. Now I'm saying it like it doesn't make any sense but don't worry, I don't understand what I said too sooo - yeah."

Glynda pushes her reading glasses up to the bridge, " - And you ended up here in Remnant because? - ".

" **We thought exploring this planet would be a benefit to our group: Harmless Flora and Fauna, suitable land and climate, to establish a proper foothold for the Crimson Raiders to begin anew, but it seems we are partially wrong.** ", Flak looks at the city of Vale from the window wall behind Ozpin.

"Like . . . 75% wrong.", Amara shrugs her shoulders, just making up stuff in her own head.

" **Approximately.** ", Flak ended his turn.

"I see - but still we don't trust visitors like you, if anything - we should just pay you and pretend we never met in the first place. - ", but before she could proceed further, Ozpin gently raises his hand at Glynda, then putting down as she stops for him.

"That won't be necessary, Glynda. In fact, for a curious reason - I may as well make things more interesting for both of us - since you have proven quite the skills to protect our students. How would you four like to be helping the diligent students of Beacon Academy in becoming Huntsman and Huntresses? Not as teachers of course, but more or less like counselors, especially if they require more training besides Glynda's lessons in the Training Grounds.", he clasps his hands as he places his hands on his desk.

" **Training novices isn't my cup of tea - but it does help me with my research on human psychology and physiology if they are under stress. Furthermore, my beasts will have new playthings to toy with.** ", the robot spoke with a little bit of a playful, malicious tone.

"Sure, as long as one of them here proves to be a better challenger than me - the students rely more on their weapons rather than their bare fists or their own bodies to their own gain . . . I even saw that blonde bimbo punch and shoot those Grimm with gauntlets, - I somehow find it rather funny and at the same time, insulting. I don't know. ", Amara remembers Yang using her shotgun gauntlets, and despite Yang's Semblance, the vigilante celebrity is still not impressed by her.

However, not everyone is on board with the plan. Moze takes a step back away from everyone, with a scowl on her face. "HOOOOOO! NONONONONO - NOPE, NUH-UH NO SIREE BOB! - First off, 'Headmaster' - we're VAULT HUNTERS! NOT FREAKING DRILL SERGEANTS! And the last time I train a bunch of greenies under my command - they all died once they were in the field, didn't last 5 minutes. So you really need to think twice if you wanna put us in that kind of job.", she remembers the last mission in Darzaran Bay, where her entire squad is dead and literally escaped Death's door thanks to Iron Bear and had to suffer PTSD from that for several months all alone, much like any other disgruntled soldier who just wanted to fight the good fight - only to be manipulated by the higher-ups into using them as cannon-fodder.

"I mean we could teach a few young'uns how ta' be a proper Huntsomething-something, BUT that means they'll have ta' get their tender hands dirty. We may be the sorta' good guys here - but the way we do it isn't fer the faint of heart . . . or stomach . . . or whatever you all people are sensitive at. Plus you seriously think we're going to accept yer' offer just like that? If ya' hire us to be yer' wee puppets, ya' aren't paying fer another lad or another lass. Yer' paying fer decades of experience. Yer paying fer professionalism. Yer paying fer loyalty to the mission above all else.", the old man turns to Ozpin with a straight face, with the rest of the team even surprised that Zane has turned serious in a deal - since he doesn't take things seriously at all.

"Agreed. Are there anything else you four want to address?", he looks at each of the Vault Hunters.

They all turn to the Operative, with Moze being the closest to him. "Zane?"

Zane sighs as he sits properly. "Aye, I got this, no need fer some serious shite . . . ", he then starts to explain about the task given by Tannis about establishing a proper foothold in Remnant with one Fast-Travel Pod, manufactured by the lawful evil Hyperion Corporation, that can instantaneously teleport them from their main ship; Sanctuary 3 to Remnant in just seconds, but they need somewhere else to place it within Beacon Academy since the Academy is far from the city and the school has it's own private sectors.

"Hmmm . . . I think I can help you all with that - ", Ozpin accepts and takes out 4 devices in front of them he then taps on the screen that leads them to a small yet detailed layout of Beacon Academy, thus the group can transfer the location to Tannis and drop the Fast-Travel pod there. "This is a Scroll, it's an object that functions as a collapsible, holographic tablet. It is capable, among other things, to function as a phone, a portable computer, a camera and a streaming device as well as a gaming controller.".

"That's . . . pretty neat. Our ECHO devices does the same thing, apart from it looks bulky and bigger. Dude, this is so fucking uncanny!", Moze turns to her team.

"You th **ink?** ", Zane, Amara and Flak spoke together in unison as they grab one whilst staring at Moze with a blank look, since seeing their currency is literally the same, they expect some similarities between universes, or worlds. Moze turns to Ozpin, taking her Scroll.

"Well now that's done, I also have another task for your four, if you're up for it." Ozpin taps on the screen, revealing Team RWBY and Team JNPR. "You remember the eight of them, yes? During the Initiation, I have made a little bit of planning for these particular eight, they are headstrong, cunning, skillful, but they are still not ready. And they will need every bit of help from you four, because you are Vault Hunters, yes?"

"That's a little bit cliché . . . but where are we gonna find these losers within the school, I mean this Scroll's fine, but Amara's bad at directions.", Amara narrows her eyes at Moze with an 'Are You Serious?' look.

Ozpin stifles a chuckle, "Well, you don't have to, young students like them tend to be curious soooo - ", he presses a button where the doors open, Glynda takes out the Disciplinarian. "We know you're all hiding there, Teams RWBY and JNPR. Otherwise, you'll all be suspended for the entirety of the week.", most people hate that kind of attitude but for Zane, showing that kind of power makes her all the more attractive . . . but there's some part of him that wishes there was really someone else that is the one for him, so he decides to play the good killer card for a while.

At first nothing's there, but few seconds later, the students nervously walks out from their positions and fall in line, looking down. Ruby is the first to look at the four Vault Hunters and Ozpin, the latter smiling at them. "Headmaster, we're so sorry for - "

" - No need to apologize Ruby, in fact, I'm glad you all are here.", the students slowly raises their heads in confusion. "Team RWBY and Team JNPR, meet your . . . counselors.", Ozpin motions his eyes to the Vault Hunters.

The Vault Hunters have their smug faces on, staring at the eight, with Moze brandishing her combat knife with her arm guard.


	6. Settin' Up Shop

The Vault Hunters have their smug faces on, staring at the eight, with Moze brandishing her combat knife with her arm guard. "Well, so you guys again, huh? Ah, well, I have to admit - there's no need for basics already, we've seen them in action.", Moze gives the teenagers a blank look.

"Yes, but if you're our 'counselors', you may as well give us some tips for fighting!", Ruby suggests with a cheery smile.

" **Ruby is right, the mere definition of counseling** ** _'is the provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties, especially by a professional.'_** **That is a far cry from 'teaching' these students physically, otherwise, we'd be replacing Ms. Goodwitch's position and occupation, no offense, Headmistress -** ", Flak immediately turns to Glynda.

" - None taken.", Glynda nods. "But yes, starting from now on you'll be having counseling with the Vault Hunters every weekend, since your schedules are booked by the other staff members."

Jaune slumps on his shoulders, defeated. "Awww, well, if that means sacrificing my weekend television series of Red Vs. Blue, for four scary alien teachers - "

" - counselors. - ", Pyrrha corrected from the side.

" - four scary alien counselors, then I guess that's a nice change of pace. Speaking of which, who are you guys?", Jaune scratches his head, slowly looking up to the Vault Hunters. The Vault Hunters are silent a bit before Moze steps up and jerks a thumb to herself.

"My full name is shit so TL;DR, my name's Moze, I'm the one with the mech that saved Ruby with my shield, and fought that giant Grimm with my 'bear' hands.", Moze smirks a bit, but so far everyone's silent. But then she hears a snicker from Yang, which the 7 teens groan collectively, knowing Yang likes puns, either bad ones or good ones.

Moze subtlety nods at the blonde brawler, appreciating her sense of humor, and she sees Amara steps forward, placing her hands on her purple sash located on her waist. "I'm Amara - I was the one who ripped that scorpion Grimm in half with my arms. Well, magic arms to be precise - my powers have a VERY complicated past, but all I care about is fighting, so - ", she shrugs her shoulders, and elbows Zane, but her sheer power is equivalent to a punch in his side, thus cracking a little bit inside him, groaning in slight pain.

Zane groans as he fixes himself up, "Jaysus - couldn't even do a gentle tap on me shoulder, huh?".

Amara raises an eyebrow, "That WAS my gentle touch.", but the old man sighs as he ends that little moment.

"Are you alright, I heard a crack there - ", Ren tries to tend to the old man, but the Operative raises a hand at him, prompting Ren to stop.

" - Wait! It's alright, boyo - aghhh, me fragile body's ain't what it used to be, not since I took 'contract killin' fer a livin'.", he snickers mischievously.

"You're a killer?!", Weiss butts in between Yang and Ruby. Ruby is also shocked to learn about the revelations that a silly old man like him can be a cunning killer, if his powers is revealed during they rescued them from the Grimm wave, imagine if Zane along with his seemingly overpowered team is faced with opposing forces other than the Grimm.

"Not just a killer. THE Killer ~ The name's Zane Flynt. And yes, I'm a lot of things; a killer, a bartender, a chef, a janitor, a teacher, an escort, a bandit, a ballerina, a grave-digger-slash-robber, but more on the 'robber' and many more jobs than the entire dictionary, seriously, there are really weird job occupation names that even I was surprised to even hear it exists, in me 86 years of wakin' up."

"86 YEARS OLD?! - HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING PROPERLY? LET ALONE FOUGHT THE GRIMM IN SUCH INSANE SPEEDS! - LET ALONE CONTROL ICE!?", Weiss is flabbergasted by the semi-retired hitman's 'small' background.

Zane smirks as he taps on his cyber-eye, emphasizing it for the Snow White, "Tech, my dear . . . Lots and lots of tech ~ ", remembering the Hyperion Enforcer from Hera who also used similar technology as him, with the SNTL drone, too bad that said Enforcer died in the Tundra Express by another group of Vault Hunters that came before them.

" **And I am Flak, I guess you've all known me by now, after all that chaos in the Green Forest. I deliberately said for no reason at all, for some reason.** "

"YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE MONKEY CARRYING A GODDAMN ROCKET LAUNCHER! - CAN I SEE HIM AGAIN? IS IT A HE? I THINK IT'S A HE!", Nora jumps up and down in place, with stars in her eyes.

Flak is a bit confused as to how does someone like Meat-Thief, but he shrugs and pats his waist, looking over his shoulder, to see the monkey, Meat-Thief, pops out of his backpack, snickering mischievously and jumps at Nora's head, laughing as he messes her hair. But Nora, instead of being annoyed merely fist bumps into the air. "YAAAAAAAS! BOOM BUDDIES!", as Nora yells, Meat-Thief takes out his rocket launcher used from before.

"Uhhh - is Nora gonna be alright, with that . . . thing?", Jaune looks over to Flak.

" **Not to worry, Meat-Thief may look dangerous, and in fact, he is dangerous. But he has human-like expressions and thoughts, as there has been a theory about Jabbers like Meat-Thief were the ancient precursors of human civilization. But I call bullcrap on that one - surely there are more logical theories than that.** "

"Oh . . . alright then. - GYAAH!", Jaune ends, it but he gets jumpscared by Meat-Thief and Nora, with their funny faces, yelping a bit before grumbles to himself, but hears Pyrrha giggling at him, and not because of his fear or his tiny girlish scream.

Ozpin walks in front of them. "Well, that's all said and done - I believe you four have somewhere else to be?", he smiles at them.

"Right ya' are, be seein' you, Ozzy boyo. And be seein' you later, gorgeous ~ ", Zane smirks one last time and does the finger guns at Glynda, to which she merely crosses her arms and pouts, looking away at the Vault Hunters and watches the city of Vale in the distance.

As the Teams RWBY and JNPR, Vault Hunters exit the office and the doors seal behind them, leaving the two Headmasters alone. Ozpin turns to Glynda who is still looking elsewhere, raising an eyebrow, "Are you alright, Glynda?".

Glynda eventually returns to face him with a blank face, "I've always been alright, Ozpin. I should head back to work.", she then leaves the room, but Ozpin blinks rapidly, thinking of something, but he shrugs his shoulders and goes back to his seat.

* * *

Outside Beacon Academy, the teenagers approach the Vault Hunters, heading to the location Ozpin sent them in their Scrolls, which leads to them to the city of Vale. Good thing for the Vault Hunters, the city's big enough for them to explore - clearly not as big as Promethea's future neon city paradise that is the Meridian Metroplex, but at least the city of Vale is divided into multiple sectors, having an upper-class district, a commercial district, an industrial district, an agricultural district and a residential district. Which makes this an interesting divide-and-conquer strategy.

"So - you guys are aliens right?! - YOU GUYS GOT ANY GOOD WEAPONS?! - CAN YOU SHOW US?!", Ruby peers at their side. Ruby has always been addicted to all sorts of weapons whether it's silly or just plain sick and cool, well, not 'addicted' - that doesn't seem the right word, let's say - 'weapons enthusiast' - yeah that's better.

Zane laughs heartily as he takes out his Nemesis pistol, but Moze catches wind of it and snaps at him, "Zane, I don't think it's a good - ", but she is then interrupted by the old man staring at her with an innocent smile.

"Come on, Moze. Can't ya' just spare a moment with the wee red lass? We literally came out of nowhere and feel like they deserve something from us other than saving their arses.", as he said that, Ruby looks at Moze with the same puppy eyes technique she did to Yang.

And quite fortunately the Gunner stares at it, and sighs in defeat. "Fine . . . but if she kills us with that thing, or anybody else - there will be no borrowing of weapons - nor test firing it at all. It's not easy being the ammo giver you know? My damn 'Forge' is still recharging bullets after that fight at the forest.", Moze acquired herself an upgrade which is called 'FORGE', this skill allows Moze to constantly regenerate ammo for her currently equipped weapon, but recently, she upgraded to ALL forms of ammunition.

By that point, she has been added a new role for supporting her team, by supplying them ammo in-between fights, other than typically tanking all the damage with Iron Bear, and seeing is waste on unnecessary targets makes her a bit irritating since saving ammo is basically rule number one in every military doctrine, or protocol or tip.

The Operative then turns to Ruby and gives her the legendary pistol, "Here ya' go, Ruby. It's called the Nemesis. Fires in fast, but short bursts. Comes with Incendiary or Corrosive bullets, depending on which I load it. Always appear with the largest magazine, hence the drum mag. And it has a program that can add a chance to deal shock damage in addition to the primary element. Overall, a handy gun with toggled sights too, that adjusts yer eyeholes, just in case if yar' optometrist tell ya' not to use scopes, or something."

Ruby ogled at the orange-green-and-black design on the pistol and checks every part of it, like the sights and the drum mag that always comes with it. But looks up to him, clearly confused. "Why's it called Nemesis?"

The old man purses his lips and shrugs, "I dunno - ", he then shifts his head back at his teammates. " Hey guys, do you know why's it called the Nemesis?".

Moze places her hands at the back of her head, chewing a cherry-flavored gum. "Something about . . . uhh - a snatch, or whatever."

"Or it could be a badass guy that's named Brick Top . . . Not as badass as me though. Heh.", Amara smirks at the silly thought.

" **No, I believe it's 'A righteous infliction of retribution.'**.", Flak turns to the little girl.

"That's weird . . . well, that's the one that made sense - here in Remnant our weapons are like . . our partners, they're like 'our extensions of one self', as one wise owl used to say.", Ruby smiles as at them, but Jaune notices the pistol has a name on it.

"Uhh - I don't think it's called 'Nemesis' - it say right here; DAHL. All caps.", the knight corrects the Vault Hunters but they didn't mind it.

Zane glances at him, "Actually boyo, that's the name of the manufacturer, the one who made it. It's a bit complicated but . . . since we're all armed from head ta' toe - ya' can probably guess that yar' all not the only humans in the universe . . . in fact, there's a lotta zany lads and lasses out there ya' can meet, half of those people are working in several megacorporations, majority of which are weapon manufacturers. **DAHL Corporation** is one of them, supporting mercenaries all across the six galaxies, with little to no recoil to ensure accuracy. I used to work for DAHL as a fitness instructor, before they sent me on a firing squad after a little fake scandal between me and a bunch of female staff members, mainly because I was handsome back in me' days, and pretty sure the men were all jealous. ~ "

"Thankfully there was this other handsome fella' who also got sent to be executed via firing squad and got recently divorced by his superior officer which was his wife, eugh, wouldn't wanna be him, but then he and I work together to escape and we went separate ways after that, wonder where is he now?", he mumbles to himself think about the rogue Commando.

But Weiss scoffs at the mere thought of that, "Space megacorporations? Now that's just silly. Of course, those tech and magic are all out of this world, but you can't expect us to believe that millions of people do exist outside this planet alone this galaxy."

"We don't expect you to believe us - because we'll just prove you wrong soon anyway by bringing in more of our people, which they currently watching your planet as we speak aboard our spaceship and mobile base, Sanctuary 3, orbiting around Remnant.", Amara retorts nonchalantly at the Ice Queen, already dealt with pompous brats like her before.

"YOU GUYS HAVE A SPACESHIP?! - "Jaune, Nora, Yang exclaimed altogether, Blake is also shocked, but her voice didn't raise the same volume as those three.

"Yep - it's not as - you know . . . the ones you see in those stupid shows where the ship's all clean and futuristic, well it's futuristic in a sense, but it's still has pipes, leaks, and pretty that cleanliness is slightly off the list, considering everyone on the ship has like . . . 50% of people who knows what basic cleanliness is. But at least those new service bots have been put to good use.", Moze clarified, not wanting them to imagine all sorts of things about Sanctuary, since its just a simple spaceship, well simple . . . ish.

"Well here we are. Hmmm, Vale City Library. Well, it's definitely better simple looking other than the Dustbound Archives back in Xylourgos, all of that is just creepy."

" **Not exactly for me, seeing this kind of building reminds of my old decades as an indexing unit, before I gained my sentience and the archives burned to the ground. And my Archivist creators dead with it.** ", the robot looks down, seemingly saddened by the memories in his data banks.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Flak. Your creators were smart and good people.", Ren looks down and laments with the Beastmaster.

"We could've shared so much knowledge with these Archivists, about basically everything! - It's such a shame such knowledge is lost to the fires. But I guess they had some parting words for you, yes?", Pyrrha steps besides Flak, showing concern for him.

" **\- Yes, I believe their last words recorded in my data banks were; 'Help me, this rogue robot is ripping me in half', 'We shouldn't have made you . . . ' , and the rest of it is rather incoherent screaming and the sounds of flesh burning to crisps of char and ash - I felt nothing afterwards, yet it brings good memories ~** ", the robot looks up again, and chuckles darkly before walking away from a shocked Ren and Pyrrha, looking at each other trying to process Flak's statement literally switched from feeling sorry to internally afraid. Whatever happened in Flak's past, something tells them the culprit is right in front of them the whole time.

The Vault Hunters arrive at the designated spot outside Beacon Academy, in Vale which was the Vale City Library, at first it's just simple antique looking library with intricate surrounded with modern buildings, making it stand out, which makes sense considering such old buildings doesn't have to be remodeled like this.

Amara looks around points to a clearing nearby. "Guys, how about there?", Moze, Zane and Flak turn to the Siren's directions.

Flak takes a knee and looks around, spotting every nook and cranny from miles away, and then stands up again. " **Plausible temporary location. I say we contact Tannis now.** ", Moze nods and goes alone to find a proper signal.

" - Uhhh . . . what are we supposed to do here? And who is Tannis?", Blake turns to the young veteran.

Moze takes out her ECHO and dials Tannis. "Tannis is like - our de-facto leader of the Crimson Raiders, pretty sure you've heard group name while you eavesdropped on our conversation."

Blake sheepishly rubs the back of her head, looking down. "R-Right . . . sorry."

"You better be - I ain't exactly fond of people snooping around while I'm sharing confidential information - you guys are supposed to be Huntresses and Huntsmen, protector of Grimm or some shit - if you wanna snoop like a pro, don't ever place your ears on a thick-ass wall, or a small hole, it makes you look stupid. Anyway that's in the past, don't worry about it, but as for what I'm doing right now - we're calling our friends to drop a Fast-Travel Network down here, so we can teleport in and out of our ship. But we need to bring it down here, and then inside the library, since bringing it outside would bring suspicions around the city and blah-blah-blah bad stuff happens, we wanna keep this discrete between Team RWBY and Juni-whatever, think you can handle that, Blake?".

Blake nods, "Yeah, I'll be sure to - ", suddenly her reply is interrupted when a face reveals in 3D face Tannis in front of Moze.

" _Moze! Good to see you again, is it ready?_ ", Tannis speaks from the device, with the background of humming coming from her Med-Bay within Sanctuary. Blake merely watches the ECHO device functions similarly to the Scroll they have and for tech that looks bulky and dirty, it seems quite handy, especially if it's in the right hands such as these Vault Hunters.

"Yep, we've found a location and Zane's pinging it now - ", she turns to Zane who planted the beacon earlier, and now talks to Ruby, Jaune, Weiss and Nora about his adventures in space, at least it'll keep the old man busy other than bugging her all-day long.

" _Yes, I've received the transmission! Wonderful! - Good work, Vault Hunters. The drop pod is now approaching Remnant's Atmosphere. Oh and Ellie says to keep a safe distance, frankly, I'd follow her advice as much as I loathe that idea - I prefer for up close and perso - "_ , suddenly Moze cuts off the transmission with the leader.

The Gunner then turns to Blake, " _But for a leader like her, she tends to be a little chatty - but she's one big help for us. -_ ".

 _"_ ALRIGHT LADS AND LASSES BETTER KEEP YER' DISTANCE!", Zane tells the teams to back off from the small beacon planted from the ground, including Flak and Amara, since the Crimson Raiders have been getting some upgrades for their drop pods thanks to Atlas' donated tech fresh from the R&D Department and despite their high technology on par with Hyperion and Maliwan, the Vault Hunters have their own rules for testing out new tech, one of those which, is 'stay-the-fuck-away-from-the-radius-otherwise-who-knows-what-will-happen-to-you' rule.

At first both of the teams are confused, but as they look up in the clear sky, they see a small stream of light, coming down in their direction. Nora points at the incoming object approaching down in their position. "Ooooooh ~ REN, WE'RE SEEING A SHOOTING STAR RIGHT NOW! ~ "

"That's . . . not a shooting star.", Ren corrects her as he, along with the others watch as the object enters Vale City, but instead of crashing down, it slowly decreases it's speed and eventually lands on the beacon, destroying it in the process. Ren glances at the others, looking at the astonished reactions coming from them.

"No. Way. That . . . That really came from up there.", Yang tries to approach it to get a closer look, only to see the name, but instead of DAHL, another name that is more alien to them is revealed: **Hyperion Corporation**. It's striking futuristic design and it's symmetric dandelion yellow with five eye-looking cameras moving around as it calibrates itself around the environment, but before they could touch it a voice speaks coming from the Fast-Travel Station.

_**Activating Fast Travel Network . . .** _

_**Planet Identification: Remnant** _

_**Galaxy Origin: Unknown** _

**_Remnant's_ ** _**Flora Signatures: Present** _

**_Remnant's_ ** _**Fauna Signatures: Present** _

_**Calibrating Sarcastic Quotes . . .** _

_**Calibrating References Quotes . . .** _

_**Calibrating Main Fast-Travel Function . . .** _

_**Regaining Recorded Locations . . . ERROR . . . SIGNAL NOT FOUND . . .** _

_**Calibration Complete. Hey there, handsome, this Fast-Travel Network is now available for your instantaneous transportation needs. The Fast-Travel Network product line is brought to you by the Hyperion Corporation.** _

_**The Hyperion Corporation. Digi-structing your future.** _

_**Booty soufflé.** _

Zane and Moze glance at Weiss, who is the most confused of all, listened to the last part the station had to say, especially the last part. The former then turn to the Gunner, "Whoops. Didn't think it'd be that early ~ ", the old man and the grizzled gunner snicker lowly at the appalled face of the young Schnee.

"Pfft - DAHAHAHAHAHAHA! - SHE SAID BOOTY SOUFFLE! - I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT THAT'S HILARIOUS!". Nora ignores the sheer thought of 'they are not alone' and just continues to laugh her ass off.

"I can't believe it . . . there are really millions of people out there, far superior than us.", Jaune says it out loud.

Pyrrha touches the back of the Fast-Travel Pod and examines it. "But technology is still technology, no matter how advanced it is. Bet this 'Hyperion Corporation' doesn't have guns that can turn into melee weapons like ours. This has always been our originality, and "

Yang immediately turns to "So you get into fights out there in space too? Do you get to fight all sorts of stuff out there?".

Amara turns to Yang with a relaxed look and then cups her chin as she thinks about that question. "Hmmmm - pretty 100% all the time . . . well 90% of the time, the other 10% is just me practicing and exercising in my free-time, going around space is cool and all, but you don't know what kind of weird things you'll encounter, which is why I'm always on my toes deep down when I'm typically chill all the time. As for the second one, I guess there are some monsters, greedy soldiers, psychos, pretty much it.", Amara didn't specify it, since Yang, along with the entirety of Remnant are oblivious to any of the weird, disgusting, and occasionally adorable things that came from space.

"Cool. Cool. Super cool. But like - uh - since you're gonna be one of our 'counselors', is it alright if we could go smash some heads together, I know a few places we can go tomorrow, after class, of course.", Yang gleams at the Siren.

Amara looks over to her team, who are clearly having a hard time lifting the Fast-Travel pod, then back at Yang with a confident smirk. "Sure, but don't blame me if you get low scores after that.", the Siren brawler chuckles as she cracks her knuckles and spawns her extra arms as she walks to help her team, then lifting the Fast-Travel Pod all by herself with ease and whistles for the students to make way inside the Vale City Library.

* * *

Once they are inside the Vale Library, the Vault Hunters arrive in the building and looking at the ordinary bookshelves full of knowledge about the world of Remnant.

"Look at all these books . . . it looks bigger here than on the outside - guess they spent more time decorating here than on the outside.

Zane enters the library and whistles at the intricate designs inside, slightly impressed." - I used ta' work as a painter and an architect fer' the Tediore Corporation - I finished the entire thing before sunrise - easy design on the outside, but since the deadline was in two weeks, I had some free time for meself so I had to make things groovy on the interior side like this, but more colorful."

"Yeah, and how did that worked out for you?", Moze smirks as she looks at the high-tech computers arranged at the tables, for the people to use it for easy-access for the common history and everything in general available for the public.

"That business feckin' skyrocketed out of the charts - so high up - it literally got a small conflict from all the megacorporations on who gets to own it. Small conflict, but I was more than flattered. Heh. I don't know who won though, maybe because I got bored, drawing's one of me hobbies, but it's not me full-time passion.", Zane smirks as he sees the perfect spot for the Fast Travel Pod to be stationed. "Ohhh - there it is! - OVER 'ERE AMARA!".

Amara, who was reading a book with her normal arms while her mystical ones are carrying the heavy pod, immediately closes it and turns to the Operative and smiles as she sees the spot. "On my way!". She jogs there and places the Fast Travel Pod down carefully, and the machine is still fully operational. Moze then takes out her ECHO device and calls in Tannis. "Alright, Tannis, the Fast-Travel has been set. Remnant and Sanctuary are now linked."

" _Splendid! - Be right there in just a moment! -_ ",the transmission is cut just as the Fast Travel Pod is acting all up. Both teams observe the teleportation process, with some of them squinting their eyes from the sheer brightness, until it dies down and reveals a lady wearing a dirty red lab coat, and her signature red tinted goggles, she checks herself first for anything out of the ordinary, afterwards she turns to the Vault Hunters, with a smile. "We meet again, lab rats!".

* * *

**_DR. PATRICIA TANNIS - RESEARCHER, SIREN, AND CEILING CHAIR ENTHUSIAST (also the new Commander of the Crimson Raiders)_ **

* * *

As the Fast-Travel Station went back to its normal state, Tannis breathes a sigh of relief. "Ahh - I missed that sound.", she then looks around. "So this is Remnant? - I was honestly expecting more . . . flashier, and a demented civilization I can freely experiment on with or without their consent. Either way, thank you very much for that, Vault Hunters. The gentleman hunter shall join us soon, as he is busy doing social interaction with his husband that I frankly do not give a damn about . . . honestly, that could've happened to me and Katie . . . but life is unfair."

She moves her eyes to the eight teenagers, "Oh hello, how do you do? You must be the naïve locals around here".

Ruby approaches Tannis and smiles, waving her hand, "N-Naïve? What do you mea - ", suddenly, Ruby takes a step back as Tannis starts to act strangely, her stomach loudly rumbling and she tries to hold it in, before -

" - BLLEEEEUUURRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!", Tannis vomits out blood form her mouth and from her nose, as the doctor is seemingly losing a lot of blood

Seeing the raw situation in front of them, the eight teenagers to scream in terror, thinking she's gonna die, with Jaune stopped screaming instantly and merely faints at the sight of the blood, of which Pyrrha catches him just in time, carrying him bridal-style. "I GOT YOU! Jaune? . . . JAUNE!?".

But Tannis has a remedy for that as she takes out a large odd-looking syringe, from her lab coat and inside it is a neon red liquid inside it. At first it looks like blood, but in reality, it's blood, but it's modified to supply more nutrients, and cells that can energize the patient's systems. This is the work of the **Anshin Corporation** , however, unlike most corporations, Anshin is not a weapons manufacturer, but focuses on the more 'medical' side of the monopoly, such as shields, first-aid kits, etc. Theories around the six galaxies start to form into realities as the Anshin Corporation may have been formed by medical geniuses, professional doctors and even scientists that are exceptional in chemical engineering and even robotics, hence Flak is able to heal himself with the same vial Tannis used, in or out of the fight. But overall, Anshin has a noble cause, and a true purpose other than monopolizing the galaxies; and that is to save the saints, and to protect the protectors.

The doctor looks up and deeply breathes a relieved sigh a before turning to the frightened teenagers, and the fainted knight. "Ahh my sincerest apologies, that was just my defensive mechanism when meeting new people, as this is quite an asset - "

" - Asset?! This dolt outright fainted because of your 'defense mechanism'!", Weiss strongly points her index finger to Jaune, who is being taken care by Team RWBY, Ren and Nora.

Tannis softly chuckles. "Well at least it's rather effective, I say - I'll be sure to put that in my notes later on and your meager judgement upon my unique characteristics is far from relevant as I am still getting used to the formalities of the horror that is 'socializing'."

"Now that's over with, I suppose we should leave this place before some hideous mouth breather, decides to pry on our activities. Wouldn't wanna reveal our one and only supply line to the entire planet."

"Wait - entire supply line, what's going on back at Sanctuary?", Moze narrows her eyes at Tannis' the last bit.

"I've got some bad news to share: ever since our expedition away from the six galaxies, we've been expending our resources in a frivolous manner, considering my missing syringes weren't enough, our food and water, alongside our batteries for the ship, is starting to go low, and getting more guns and health vials is going to be hard, considering the ship has more than enough fuel to retrace the direction back to the main six galaxies with the help of Balex's navigation skills to move away from Remnant for a while. - "

Ruby approaches Tannis with a nervous smile " - Wait, can you at least land the ship here? - I mean we have some high tech too! - "

" - But is your tech, in general, capable of space travel? - Do you have at least a power core that can cure almost any mechanical problem, like seriously, what's with the ubiquitous 'power core' problem? It's so redundant!", she starts to laugh maniacally as it's also one of her defensive mechanism, making Ruby steps back a bit from her, and gives no response, since the Atlesian Military has no tech that can go around to space yet, and surely it's going to take more decades to fully test out the final product for Remnant to truly, reach for the stars. Tannis smiles at the little Red Riding Hood, "Exactly! Before the Vault Hunters arrived here, we've been monitoring this planet's orbit, and guess what? - There's no satellites, no ships, not even a single space debris, except for your shattered moon."

"That sucks . . . and the other megacorporations don't have enough resources to expand elsewhere, they're too busy squabbling each other on the little planets.", Zane crosses his arms, clearly frustrated that he's gonna be planning more right here in Remnant other than relying on their main mobile base.

"But all is not lost - we have our friends on Pandora, especially the B-Team, they can help us out in delivering the supplies and help us along the way if there are any . . . uncooperative situations. And not all corporations are busy fighting off interplanetary territories and protecting colonies. Our good friends, Rhys and Wainwright, will do their best to bring in reinforcements and supplies to keep the Crimson Raiders going."

"And since the sun is goin' down, we are going to need a place to hunker down fer the night, lemme call our good friend Ozzy ~ ", he takes out his ECHO device. "Whoops - wrong one.", he then switches to his Scroll device and calls the Headmaster.

After a few seconds a voice utters from the Scroll, complete with a wavelength and a picture of the Headmaster, the same picture used in the brochure. "Mr. Flynt. How can I help you?".

"Ay, Ozpin boyo - we're done here in Vale City Library, and we need a place ta' lay low fer a while with our buddy 'ere Tannis . . . clearly you have rooms reserved fer' us, aye?" The Operative glances at Tannis and the Vault Hunters reading books, except for Flak, who is secretly tampering with one of the computers.

"Yes, I've already made preparations as we speak. Be sure to come back here in Beacon Academy and be sure to follow the pinpointed area on your Scroll, apologies if there's no one there to assist you Vault Hunters, we're all busy here with the school work - "

" - Nah, we get it, boyo - work hard, play hard, am I right? Hah! - Don't answer that, anyway - we'll be headin' back. Peace.", he then ends the call and puts the Scroll in his jacket and turns to the teenagers who just got Jaune back in the living world and the Vault Hunters, now gathered back together after browsing a little bit around the library. "Alright boyos, and lasses . . . we'll be headin' back ta' Beacon. We'll leave the Fast-Travel there, Missus Goodwitch ~ will take care of that.", he snickers before heads out, followed by the rest.

* * *

With the teams being ordered by Miss Goodwitch to head back to their dorms, the Vault Hunters and Tannis arrived at their rooms pinpointed by Ozpin again and opens it, revealing a decorated room with the base color of greyish white, with dark red curtains, they spot a staircase that leads to the upper level, presumably the bedrooms, and to their right and in front of them, the kitchen and the living room, with the latter taking up much of the space with the large flatscreen TV, at least they have that other than not having space tech.

Flak looks around and appreciates the simplicity of the room, " **Whoever designed this room must be really dedicated to their craft.** "

"I don't know if that's sarcasm or not, Flak. But in my case, I think he's been watching so much sci-fi prison movies, like - why is it mainly greyish white here?!", she complains as she hops on the couch and watches TV, ignoring the sky going dark.

Zane goes to the kitchen and opens the fridge to see ice cold wine, he smirks as he takes a bottle and pops one, and starts chugging it, before he already drank half of it and places on the table. "Ahhh forget about that, lass - at least they have a bar here! ~ I can get some of me 'acquaintances' to have a shindig around. Or better yet, have those students let in with us - "

" - Easy there, old geezer - they're young and clueless, you really wanna kick them up a notch?", Amara leans on the cold wall, smirking at him.

Zane takes a seat in one of the chairs, "Nah - but since we're 'counselors' now - I think we all have the same ideas ~ . . . "

"Fuck off, blondie. I still don't like whipping rookies into shape. Not after fucking Kaziak always used that to guilt trip me into bringing me back into the Corps. Although, Ozpin . . . he never really gave any rules about counselling - meaning I can just whip them into shape, the good-old fashioned way.", she smirks at the TV.

" **But I believe we have something to do other than counselling these novices.** ", he taps on his ECHO device and shares it with his team. " **We still have uncharted urban territory around us - and if we want to make this expedition -** "

" - More like 'vacation', at this point. - ", Zane interrupts, then drinks his wine afterwards.

" **Apologies - and if we want to make this 'vacation' worth our while, we need to scout the surrounding areas. We have wandered around the Emerald Forest and the area is within our map, same goes to Beacon Academy, but what I'm suggesting is the city of Vale, which so far we've only been through one part of the city, and there are more, as you can see.** "

"Setting our eyes on Vale's other districts . . . I'm for it . . . but - where do you guys wanna start? Splittin' up should do the trick, I mean, it's not like Vale has their crime linchpin. - "

And just like fate, the Vale News Network, with the report from Lisa Lavender, VNN's news reporter. " _Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. And the crime lord known as Roman Torchwick, is still at large followed by a series of Dust robberies within the city of Vale._ "

"Aaaaaand there's me ticket ~ ", he rubs his hands, as he has some plans for tomorrow. But turns to his friends, "So - what're you lot gonna do tomorrow?"

" **I'll be heading down to the Beacon Library, followed by visiting the Vale City Library again to check up on the Fast Travel pod and read some books along the way, despite me already hacking one of their computers, thus gaining general information about this planet and this city and the history. Besides, the Beacon Library is** **a repository of books and other sources of archived information within the Academy. It was generally meant to be a quiet place for students to read and study, though students often used the area as a gathering place, playing board games and socializing instead, of which it is a slander to the true meaning of the establishment."**

"As for me - well ~ I have an appointment with one of the Team RWBY's member, the blonde bimbo, Yang. We're gonna go beat some goons around Vale whether the law enforcement likes it or not, we may attract some unwanted attention like the White Fang or that Roman Douche-dick, but that's all the more action I wanna take. But it's gonna be after class though, so - I'll just be with Moze for the time being. Or head on solo, if it's alright with you Moze?", Amara chimes in.

"Nah, we gucci." she starts chewing her bubblegum while watching the other channels. "But what about you, geezer? - You had that grin ever since you heard the news earlier."

Zane smirks, while playing with his Digi-Claw. As much as I hate leavin' that hot piece of a teacher in the Academy, I wants ta' find the criminal underworld here, every city and every town - there's always a dark side to them . . . and I wanna dig deeper into it, be a part of it - so not only we got more Lien constantly flowing to us so we can buy more shit, but we can more information on what's to come, plans; big and small, heists, illegal transactions - I'm gonna search them all . . . and also pop a few heads along the way ~ It's what I always do in an easy planet like this. Although I dunno about you, Tannis, what will you do here?"

Tannis fumbles with her notes before turning to the hitman. "Well first things first, I need to get myself acquainted here with the staff - starting with the head honcho, Ozpin no-last-name-given, maybe I can get a position here in Beacon so I can study how this Dust works and how these students have uniquely varied colored palettes and their names are pretty long and lots of syllables unlike the ours."

There was a moment of silence before Flak shrugs. " **Let's just pretend we all agree to that - for now - I say we all stay here and get some rest.** "


	7. First Day ...

As the sun rises in Remnant, Amara slowly wakes up in her bed, wearing a blank dark purple tank top with purple dark purple pajamas, and looks around her room here in Beacon; decorated with a purple carpet, purple lights, purple curtains, all in monochromatic purple in different tints and hues. Not like her home in Sanctuary or back in Partali, but at least it's much more cleaner and orderly than both of the aforementioned.

Amara gets up from her bed and hops out of the bed, stretching her arms with a big smile - she then opens the curtains to see a bird flying by, tweeting with glee - only to be shot by a stray bullet, killing the bird, and snapping her from her happy morning - well, at least it's normal. She glances down to see Meat-Thief laughing maniacally as it fires a commonly used Hyperion submachine gun, thankfully Flak calmed Meat-Thief down by confiscating such gun and leads him to gather with the Pack for breakfast, both of Flak's pets are eagerly hungry, must be some good food down there.

Speaking of breakfast, it's high-time Amara needs to take a dine with the food here in Remnant, hopefully it isn't as disgusting as the burgers from the Dynasty Diner back in Promethea, and perfect like the coffee in the Rise N' Grind coffee shop again . . . in Promethea.

* * *

Once Amara heads down the stairs, letting out another yawn she sees Zane, cooking breakfast for the team - with Flak and his beasts, the former calming the latter that it's feeding time. Amara raises an eyebrow at the hitman. "Y-you can cook?".

Zane flips the steak and adds the perfect amount of seasoning at the beef steak, then turns to Amara. "Ayyyy! ~ Top of the morning, Amara! Uh YEAH I CAN COOK! - I wasn't jokin' when I said 'I'm a lot of things' well, I guess being a chef does gets covered up by the popular jobs, like contract killers, mercenaries, teachers, or maybe a goddamn politician. Bein' a chef' is underrated, lass. Now go on, and have a seat, today we're havin' beef steak - it's kinda like their skag steak here, except they eat grass and not people or anything that's edible be it aliens, or friggin' robots."

As Amara sits down, she glances at Tannis, who appears to have eye bags on her. "Damn, Tannis - did you spend your entire night reading the books around here? Flak already found a goddamn database for that."

"Actually I was busy talking to Sir Hammerlock apparently - they're leaving us while they head back to Pandora, the B-Team there have gathered supplies, and they're also making the trip worthwhile by heading back to Eden-6 and Promethea.", she replies as she takes a seat right between them.

"MORNING, PEOPLE!", Moze kicks down the door and screamed as she arrives in a dirty mechanic outfit, tired with maintaining Iron Bear, early in the morning. She takes off her welding helmet and her welding goggles as she takes a deep breath of fresh air along with the fresh beef steak.

But Amara feels a slight change in the air as she sniffs the air again and pinches her nose, and her face contorted into disgust. "Guh - what's that stench, Moze?".

Moze takes off her heavy clothing that's meant for working operations and place it on the side of the dining room. She then sits down and glances at the brawler, and she smells her both of her arms and shrugs her shoulders. "Just a couple of power core liquid I tried to use as a substitute fuel - Got a few before we landed, gotta thank Gaige for that, bestie always got the best tools and the best parts." she smirks at them, but before Amara could reply, they are both interrupt by a large plate with juicy steaks.

The four Crimson Raiders glance at the Operative, smirking confidently at them. "Bon appetit ~ Ladies and gentlebot. That's actually me first dish I've cooked in this planet - didn't realize the ingredients were so easy to get and there are variety of them in Vale, or could be more in the outer kingdoms! - Heh, may start a cuisine business here - but fer' now, let's all chow down.", the Operative, together with the group, all ate together, except for Flak, who just tear the juicy beef steak evenly for his pets . . . and surprisingly - they all loved it. Not as disgusting as fried skags or ratch, but ACTUAL meat.

The Vault Hunters then eat together, and the sequence ends with them hearing one of the members of Team RWBY, shouting 'TO CLASS!'

Zane takes a piece of his beef steak and sighs, "Welp, looks like somebody's out for blood today! Pretty sure they're classes are too boring, at least they shoot themselves out of boredom, like I did . . . ", he smirks as he hears Ruby's voice in the distance.

Moze shrugs her shoulders, while drinking a glass of orange juice she found on the fridge. "Eh, they're greenies - they're always the ones shouting first. Before they're gonna be punished - no wait, reprimanded - since this is a hoity-toity kind of school you'll see like ones on Eden-5. Gaige used to live there with her dad - but she went away after getting 3rd place in her science fair and killed her rival - she was gonna be arrested and expelled, and it's either of those sequences. If Gaige was here again as a student, pretty sure she'll experience the same thing, albeit, much more chaotic."

" **But you have to give them credit - for their appropriately restrictive uniforms, they sure are agile.** ", Flak observes them, running around the courtyard for their next class, the robot also sees Ozpin and Glynda in the distance, the former drinking his usual black coffee, and the latter checking the time on her watch. However Flak merely discards that thought and proceeds to his first task in his first day in Remnant, same thought applies to the rest of the team.

" **Anyways, it's time we shall part ways and regroup here in this temporary headquarters in 8:00 PM - we do reconnaissance around the city of Vale and gather our findings, until the rest of the Crimson Raiders arrive again.** ", Flak stands up from his chair and taps on his waist at his pets, one by one, digistructing them into hiding.

"Alright, Flak, see you 'round! - ", Moze waves her hand at the robot as he leaves. Flak also waves his hand as he leaves the room. Moze sighs, wondering what she and the other Vault Hunters would do. She then glances at Tannis who is also finished with her meal and standing up from her chair. "And you're gonna go to the Headmaster's Office?".

Tannis nods. "That's right! - Figured I should get one of those 'Scrolls' thingies - whether they are built as a primitive scroll or a rather metaphorical one, once I get enough knowledge out that - I may get some ideas of out it - but not of course without materials, maybe when Mr. Strongfork comes in. But for now, I must take my leave, Ta-Taaa ~ ", the scientist leaves the room, leaving the three Vault Hunters on their own.

Moze then shrugs and finishes her breakfast. "Well, at least we still have our 'mission' here in this big-ass academy. Speaking of missions - Zane were you really serious back there? You know, the whole 'loyalty to the mission' thing.", she asks the old man, while Amara is the last one to finish her breakfast too and starts cleaning up the plates.

"What, that? Pssh, nah, I got that from a scary lass who used ta' work with General Alphonso Knoxx, one time she almost killed me since I told her I used ta' work with Atlas, but I told her me occupation back then was a sanitary engineer, so - nearly bit the bullet there. Great lass. But I'm guessing she's having a vacation with her special someone in who knows where.", Zane takes a bite of a delicious salad, already standing up from his chair. "Welp, it's already in the middle of the morning anyway, so I better head out too - Crime also works at daytime since working at night, is rather easy, but cliché - so, I gotsa' go now, you two ladies better be nice here. Got a reputation to uphold with Missus Hot-witch - . . . I - That sucks, ignore that bit. Gotta go.", the Operative then heads out of the room.

* * *

In the classroom, a man in early old age. He wears a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons. His pants he wears tucked into olive boots, similar in appearance and construction to cavalry boots. He has gray hair and a gray mustache and appears to be slightly overweight; when he laughs his belly visibly shakes up and down. He looks at the students while pacing around the room. "Monsters . . . Demons . . . Prowlers of the night. Yes the creatures of Grimm have many names - but I merely refer to them as prey. Ha-HAAAA! ~ "

However, there are no responses from the class, (for the readers you can just imagine a cricket sound here). "Uh - and YOU shall too once you all graduate from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying . . . Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens or otherwise, treacherous worlds, our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces - and that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses ~ ", he winks and clicks his tongue at Yang, of which Yang nervously chuckles at that.

He starts to pace around again, "Individuals that are sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves - from what you ask, well, THE VERY WORLD!", one random guy cheered at the back. "- And that is what you are training to become. But first . . . a story. A tale of a young, handsome man . . . Me. When I was a boy . . . blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.", and the rest of his speaking are rendered incoherent as this was technically in the episode, and that this is the story with the Vault Hunters, not some old man about his past, to be frank.

Whilst listening to Professor Port's story, Weiss is busy paying attention to Professor Port, but unfortunately, she is seated right next to the most annoying teammate ever existed (which is in her view, by the way), she slowly glances at Ruby, dozing off, picking her nose, doodling on her notebook, and even try to balance things such as an apple, notebook and a pencil all with a silly face.

" . . . The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable, a true Huntsman must be dependable, a true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise. So who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss raises her hands out, with a frustrated face, "I DO, SIR!"

"WELL THEN! - Let's find out . . . ", Professor Port calls her on her seat, and turns to a cage behind him, hearing a loud growl inside it, followed by violent rattling, Professor Port then motions his hand at the cage, "STEP FORWARD! And face your opponent."

* * *

As Moze and Amara wander around, Moze gets a text message from Tannis, and merely rolls her eyes around and grunts, to which Amara glances at her. "What's that?"

"Tannis just sent me a text message through the Scroll . . . looks like she already had a chat with Ozpin and Glynda. It went quicker than she expected - maybe because she shared some . . . questionable information about herself, but I don't think that's the reason . . . I think.", Moze scratches the back of her head.

"Eh, they'll understand Tannis soon - I mean, not everyday you'll see a crazed Siren scientist as a leader of a resistance full of ragtag Vault Hunters and adventurers rather than an annoying teenager." Amara chuckles at that - however that soon dissipated as they see Weiss and Ruby privately conversing with each other. Amara keeps on going and tries to intervene, with the two, but Moze places a hand on her shoulder, and shakes her head, waiting until Weiss and Ruby went separate ways.

They both glance at each other, nodding and splits up; Moze heading to Ruby, and Amara with Weiss, shame Zane wasn't able to be the one who'll console the Ice Queen, maybe he could've shared some of his 'old man' wisdom on her - but then again, there's a chance he'll just be spewing drunk stories and bizarre occurrences of him naked with nothing on him but a buzz-axe and half a tube of lipstick.

* * *

As Ruby walks alone, she arrives at a balcony, looking over the city of Vale. She then sighs melancholically, thinking about her verbal quarrel with Weiss, wondering what will she do to make it up to her, but slowly doubting herself as a leader. However those thoughts stopped when a hand pops-up beside her, extending a pink rectangular candy wrapper. "Gum?"

Ruby turns to the cherry-flavored gum and slowly looks up to see Moze, giving her a nonchalant look. "I tend to chew these whenever I'm all sad and down. Don't swallow it though, it'll get stuck on your digestive track - maybe for 7 years.", Ruby nods and slowly takes it, and then opens it. Afterwards, she takes a closer looks at the small pink spherical object, then starts chewing it . . . At first she feels nothing, but then the flavor instantly kicks in, mildly surprising her.

She sits down next to her, taking out a piece of chewing gum with the same flavor and starts chewing it, although not loudly. "Listen, Ruby, Ozpin didn't made a mistake about you being a leader . . . Leaders can come in any shape or form; whether it'd be your run-of-the-mill serious kind of person with a can-do attitude or a certain insane person with a tendency for self-harm, trying out new fetishes, just plain crazy on killing destroying a bunch of stuff - WHATEVER! . . . Just . . . don't sell yourself short - there's a reason for everything, and being a leader is always fun - because not only it's hella challenging, but you also get to be a better person just by understanding each other overall.", the Gunner merely smiles at her.

Ruby stares at her amber eyes for a moment before sighing and looks down. "Yeah . . . I guess you're right - it does have it's perks - I just wish Weiss would understand."

"Oh don't worry about her . . . she'll understand . . . because she's just as flawed as we all are.", the Gunner looks at the horizon, smirking under her helmet, as she takes in the peacefulness around the Academy. "Anyways, you should be heading back to your dorm - Yang and Blake will be worried about you. Or worse, Glynda will reprimand you, and I know a feisty and harsh woman when I see one. ", That was a lie. Well, she can tell because Zane can tell, as much as she loathes it.

* * *

Weiss huffs as she goes into the Courtyard, where she can take her mind off and watch the beautiful flowers and neatly trimmed topiaries. She leans on the balcony, still a frown plastered on her face. But shifts as she feels another presence near her, she turns around to see Amara, crossing arms and smirking at her.

"I take it the lesson didn't go so well . . . ", the Siren leans her back against the balcony, staring the pristine hallway behind them.

"I should've been the leader of Team RWBY, not her.", Weiss fumes as she crosses her arms in anger.

"Frankly, my team is led by a crazy old geezer who literally doesn't take most things seriously - we always end up in trouble, everything doesn't go according to plan, but look at us! We're still here - and we're not a single bit fractured. You know what's your problem? Your ego - I know people with that kind of ego don't last long, not even in the other planets. And I can safely say that Remnant is no exception.", Amara looks down, remembering the enemies she had to face, as the Tiger of Partali and as a Crimson Raider.

"I don't have a problem! - And you don't get to criticize my personality! In fact, you should say that to Ruby, she's clearly naïve and unprepared for this."

"And what about you? - You're naïve and unprepared. But if you could just let go of that ego of yours and start acting nice and humble for once, then maybe you'll understand. Because you and Ruby are a team, therefore you need to face those flaws together, not waste it on bickering. I mean, a leader that's all happy go lucky and caring for others - typical, but there's a certain magic to it.", she smiles at Weiss and then looks at the horizon. "Besides, maybe your team can change you for the better, just like I was before I met my teammates."

Weiss frowns a bit, "Do you guys have the same problems as we do? I mean . . . about who's calling the shots?", her loud tone slowly shifts to a more calm one.

Amara scoffs at that question. "Always, Moze will rant on and on about how she was supposed to be the leader of our team, but Zane knows his people more than Moze does. Eventually Moze understood and just went along with it, not because of his decades of experience, but because she knows her strengths and weaknesses, along with Zane's.".

Amara then moves away from the balcony and walks away. "Anyways, you're all still starting - better make it up with her tonight. Or else I'll make you do it.", she jokingly says the last part.

* * *

Despite the glares and stares the robot received, the Beastmaster still remains stoic and emotionless as he goes around the streets of Vale, scanning each of the buildings, the range of his optics is far enough to see several yards away, as expected from the team's sniper. Although his clothing stands out from the rest of the people. There he spots a book store from afar, and heads there to his first destination. Whilst there, he sees a bunch of street kids playing around within an alleyway, however, Flak just ignores their cheers and shakes his head. "It seems the humans here are still typically . . . unique.", knowing he has met far 'quirky' humans on the other planets. *cough* Max Sky *cough*.

One of the street kids approach Flak and eyes at him curiously, wearing a dirty shirt and pants, much like the robot, at least she is cleaner looking than him and no signs of rust. "Woah guys, it's one of them Atlas War Machines!", he smiles widely as more of the street kids gather around Flak.

Flak crouches down on one knee to level himself to the kids, merely gives the child a glare. " **Machine, yes. But I'm not from Atlas - I no longer serve my creators nor I wish to offer my expertise and myself to this 'Atlas'. Now move along, little ones. I have somewhere to be.** ", the robot stands up and eventually arrives in front of the shop.

" **Hmmm Tukson Book Trade . . . sounds promising.** ", the robot speaks to himself as he goes inside the store, and sees nobody there. except shelves that are as tall as him. The robot sees the labels around the book store, reading the different categories as he walks around the place, the heavy robotic footsteps can be heard all across the room, which garners the attention of a certain owner.

He wears a short-sleeved quarter-zip burgundy and black shirt with a visible white undershirt. His hair is cleanly cut, and he has noticeable sideburns, along with hairy, muscular arms. He also has protractable claws in place of nails. He smirks at the robot in front of him, showing no fear from the strange robot. "First time here, friend? You don't look like one of our regulars here."

" **Indeed I am not - yet I am here to seek information and proof within your collection of books. As a former indexing unit, one source of information isn't enough for me.** "

"Well, good thing you're here, got a lot of books about Remnant and it's history. Especially the Faunus Rights Revolution.", though he spoke the last statement with a hint of distastefulness and looks down with a frown. However, he smiles at Flak much like he greets every customer. "The name's Tukson, by the way. Nice to meet ya'."

" **Flak. A hunter and Beastmaster. Likewise, Mr. Tukson.",** Flak turns to a book and sees the cover of the Faunus Rights Revolution, showing a battlefield with rusty swords on the ground, he then opens the page and starts reading.

"Oh, Beacon Academy is letting robots become Huntsmen?", Tukson raises an eyebrow at the word 'hunter'.

 **"No - let's just say I have my own affiliations. But I digress, you seem to react oddly in this Faunus Rights Revolution, care to elaborate?** "

"Yeah, those times sucked when the Faunus Rights Revolution or 'Faunus War' broke out . . . lotta lives lost all for nothing. Racism still goes on for us Faunus. Humans are sometimes entitled pricks.", he looks away in shame, since he was a former White Fang member. "Now the White Fan, they used to stand up for us Faunus, but ever since that war - everything changed, especially for them, they resorted to killing now - instead of doing peaceful protests . . . turns out they have a new leadership or something that changed their whole objectives - which is why I left as soon as that guy came in. He's on a whole 'nother level and I would get the hell out of here and move on to another kingdom if he's ever here.".

" **I understand your pain, Mr. Tukson . . . there's always bloodshed between two different species - and sometimes, there's no room for peace and negotiations, only war, not just for profit . . . but the sheer hate as well. But yes, I believe this White Fang is rather a big variable that needs to be addressed with extreme caution and prejudice . . . Thank you for your time, Mr. Tukson. Know that despite we're all different species, there will be a time when all of us unite . . . no promises though.** ", the robot blinks his eyes and then nods bows at him as he grabs the books and glances at him, not saying a word.

"No, don't worry, you need it more than I do - consider that a small gift to you. I've seen my fair share of odd customers, but a rogue calculated killing machine in my store? That takes the cake. See you around, Flak.", the owner then sits on the chair, and places his feet on the table.

" **Many thanks for your generosity, Mr. Tukson. Perhaps I'll repay you sometime, once I'm finished with my quest for knowledge in this planet.** ", the robot then heads for the door and leaves the book store. Though he wonders if he'll meet Zane along the way, since he's technically within Vale City, searching for Roman Torchwick or the White Fang, or the old man is just doing what he does best; fooling around.

* * *

_**PEOPLE GET UP AND DRIVE YOUR FUNKY SOUL - JAMES BROWN (1988)** _

* * *

As he places an earpiece on his left ear, he triple-taps to activate his music player. Then eventually bobs his head with a gleam. "Ooooh yeah ~ That's a perfect tune ~ ", Zane suavely dances around the dark corners of Vale City while listening to a song that he collected during his small time on an ordinary planet called 'Earth', weird it didn't have anything special, but their variety of music just makes it all the more better. And it even fits with his gigs on the other planets, when he's bored or feelin' funky in both professional or leisure times.

Although Vale City is quite big for a Remnant citizen, Zane has been through bigger cities than Vale and he already found a path to maybe an underground network or a city that's manipulating Vale - either way, he can't wait to explore and learn how they work.

As he goes deep in the area, he sees a small bar with no title, but it looks decent there, clean floor, dimmed yellow lights, and a few people inside. All of it checks out.

* * *

He goes inside the bar with a smile on his face, bringing some Deja vu, like that one time Zane and his team arrived in Vestige's saloon on planet Gehenna. Good thing Moze didn't lose her shit by destroying the piano - and instead unleashed it on Drunk William. But on the contrary, the customers here, which are just a bunch of petty thieves or mediocre goons, and none of them, stand out except for a pair of young adults, waiting for someone, both of them sitting on the counter.

One is a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair is a light, mint-green with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks on each side in the back. Her attire consisted of an intricate white top and an olive-colored crop top, on the back of which is her personal emblem. This emblem is in the shape of a cut gem, most likely referring to her name. This was intended to be accompanied by white shorts, decorated with what appears to be a gold coin-plated belt with four gold chains draping around her back from two of the coins and what seems to be a green loincloth, and also wears two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers as well as a pair of strappy high-heeled pumps.

Beside her is a young man with gray eyes and, while draped in shadow, somehow purple hair, partially slicked back while unkempt at the front. He wears a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covers his upper body. He also has a single notched belt with what appears to be a sash or bandana draped over it. Protecting his arms are a set of rerebraces and vambraces.

Zane minimizes the volume of his earpiece as he walks to the counter and sits down, one seat apart from Emerald, and turns to the blonde bartender lady with cold blue eyes staring at him, clearly eyeing Zane's personality since it's his first time around here and acting all happy, compared to the gritty and greedy criminals around him. Zane raises his index finger. "One glass of yer' best drink, please!", he then takes out a big sum of Lien, which catches the attention of some criminals in the background including the bartender, but doesn't work on those two. "And be sure to keep the change - have some fer yerself, lass ~ ", then winks at her as she leaves to prepare.

'Hmm, guess money isn't their thing - that or they're good at putting up an act.', anyway, he needed a drink after all that groove moves. The bartender arrives and places down a wine glass of what he assumes their 'top shelf' drink. The bartender lady smirks at him. "Thanks for that, handsome ~ ", then leaves him again to tend to the other customers. Even though he knows it may or may not be laced with poison or some drug, Zane couldn't turn down a top shelf drink, it's what he learned from his mammy when he was young. (DLC 4)

He drinks a decent portion of it and gently places it down, and smiles at the glass. "Ahhh - haven't tasted swill this good since Moxxi's . . . wonder how they're doin' up there?", he asks himself, but then turns to the two teenagers. "So - what're two young'uns doin' in Vale City's twisted playground? Smuggling job? Assassination? Escort?", he asks them giddily.

Mercury scoffs at him, while drinking his canned soda. "None of your damn business, old geezer. You tryna' buy us off or something?"

Zane shakes his head, but with a small chuckle. "What me? Nononononononononooo ~ I was just trying ta' make conversation is all - I mean, all mercs do love the sight of Lien, right?", he smirks at Mercury, leaning his shoulder arm on the counter, facing them.

"We're just making a living, not showing off to get killed on the spot.", Emerald retorts while sharpening her weapon.

"Ohhhh - but we're both a colorful bunch, boyo ~ Surely there's something there that's not grey - I mean, if you include yer clothes or yer brain full of grey matter. - ", he takes another sip of his drink. However, a force strikes Zane out of nowhere, shattering his drink into pieces, although, the joke is on the attacker.

"ARGH! - The hell?!", Mercury blinks his eyes rapidly as the old man wasn't there in his seat, but instead a digitalized version of himself, sitting down with the same cocky smirk, and knocks the young lad down on the floor on his back, subduing Mercury. But before the clone could take out the exact copy of the real Zane's pistol, Nemesis, he hears the sound of a weapon locked onto to him.

Emerald aims her sickle-turned-gun at Zane's Digi-Clone, but the real Zane appears behind the counter, his head rests on the palm of his hand at the counter, slowly lowers the gun's barrel down. "Easy there, lass - ever heard of a joke? - Jeez, ya' all got a stick up yer arse or somethin.", he snickers at the two.

"You really love running your mouth, do you!? - ", Mercury is about to do another powerful kick on the clone's back without noticing, but then a stray fireball, passes between them, stopping the fight.

" - Enough you two.", a voice utters from the side. Zane casually turns to the young lady and just deadpans at her. The young lady is a fair-skinned woman with ashen-black hair that covers her left eye, bright amber eyes. She wears a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck mini dress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.

There is a baseball diamond-shaped keyhole on the dress' upper back at the same height as her chest. The sleeves end in a triangle shape, which are wrapped or tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs of the sleeve taking over at the wrists. Her fingernails are painted dark red. She wears black shorts underneath her dress, as well as a black choker on her neck. She has a gold loop earring with a black gem dangling from it on her right ear. She has dark, glass, high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet on her right leg. On her upper back, in the keyhole of her dress, she has a black tattoo of what appears to be a pair of high heel shoes placed sole to sole, forming a heart shape inside.

Zane senses a rather evil vibe around her, but Zane clearly doesn't see anything dangerous about her . . . yet. And if she is, well, there's a big reason why he has lived this long. And if these three teenyboppers ever make it big time, they don't know what to expect what's next if they ever mess with him or his team, almost makes him feel bad for them. Almost.

"Cinder, we're just - "

" - Look, we got what we came for, now let's get out of here, we're not going to cause a scene.", she then glares at the Operative, his deadpan slowly turned into a sly smirk. "And don't pick fights with the wrong people, stranger. Who knows, maybe you'll be the one on the ground, all sad and broke - "

"PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! - OOOH! - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", as Zane bursts out laughing hysterically wrapping his arms around his stomach, the sheer laughter alone makes the three unnerved at Zane. "M-M-May I say something? - That has got to be one of the WORST threats I've ever received in me life! ~ I mean it's better than that one loony back at Eden-1, but it could use TONS of improvement ~ ".

But then his laughter dies down as he sits down again, with a seemingly innocent smile, taking another glass, with the same drink, presumably he stole behind the counter earlier. He then pours the drink and raises a glass in front of three. "A toast - for the 'villains' . . . ", he then drinks it all down in one go, and chuckles darkly at them. " . . . Good luck, kiddos ~ ".

Cinder just gives him a scowl before walking away from the bar, followed by Mercury and Emerald. Zane sighs as he frowns, still not satisfied that he hasn't met Torchwick, but as his luck was about to run out. The bartender places a card on the counter, at the corner of his eye. "Here - boss would want to see a man with a personality. Could be up your alley."

Zane takes the card and sees a location and a specific date and time, along with the iconic bowler hat from Roman Torchwick. He smirks at the bartender and inserts the card in one of his jacket. "Thank ya', lass - quite the gem ya' are - I'll definitely pay ya' once I'm back here - also sorry fer the mess."

* * *

As he walks out of the bar and heads back to Beacon, he turns up the volume on his music player on his earpiece and starts dancing along to the music again, hoping he wouldn't miss out on dinner. "Oh right . . . Amara's cooking tonight. Heh, a good day after all ~ ".

However, he knew about those three young kids walking out of the bar, something tells him that won't be the last time they'll see each other. He sighs as he takes out his ECHO recorder since he assumes that there are hackers out in Vale that can snoop in his transmission. Sometimes it pays to have a bulky alien tech.

He then calls Moze on the recorder, waiting for a bit as he leans against the wall. Seconds later, he hears her voice. "Hey, geezer - something up?"

"Aye - need ta' bring the gang back in the hideout again. I got more than I needed - and from now on, we better watch out around Beacon."


	8. ... First Blood

"SO this Scroll is much like any other device. Fascinating, efficient, and a very good silver platter since I broke all of my plates after I used the shards as makeshift maracas after trying to attend one of Maurice's Saurian Rituals. I hunger for eggs for some reason, ah ignore that - maybe I should do it again? Maybe I'll call you . . . Sammy . . . SCROLL SAMMY! SAMMY THE SCROLL - Yes! - Yesyesyesyesyesyes - Come along Sammy, I'll introduce you to my ex-boyfriend, ECHO-1, I think he's still in my drawer. OH - and Greb, my good lab assistant, he helps me brushes my teeth.", Tannis continues to talk to herself and inanimate objects as she exits the Headmaster's Office, with a Scroll device, placing inside her jacket, and leaves the office.

Glynda turns to Ozpin, both of them are genuinely afraid of her autistic condition. "Q-Quite the personality, don't you think? . . ."

Ozpin sips his coffee, trying to comprehend Tannis' constant barrage of bizarre information, as he places his mug down, he turns to Glynda. "Yes, but it seems it won't be the last time we'll see people like her nor we'll ever meet her. Fortunately, we have one of our own, I think those will get along fine . . . Probably."

* * *

Tannis hums as the door closes behind her and walks down the hallway, tapping the different settings of the scroll, however she didn't notice a tall man passing in front of her, thus bumping into each other, Tannis and the Scroll on the floor. "AH! My apologies, ma'am! - Let me help you up!", he quickly grabs Tannis up and gives her Scroll. "THERE! - Though it's a good thing that this Scroll is brand-new. How about you, are you alright?".

Tannis brushes off the dust from her sleeves to the edge of her coat. "Well, besides millions of foreign microbes in this planet entering my physical structure and my uniform - yes, I am fine.", she takes a look at the man with messy green hair. His attire is disheveled: his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie, along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He also has round glasses that appear to be opaque. "Hmmm . . . you don't seem to be one of the students, are you one of the teachers perhaps?"

He stands upright and smiles as he confidently adjusts his glasses. "Rightly so! - Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, one of Beacon Academy's staff, I teach history around here, from the earliest times of our ancestors, to the Human-Faunus War, the formation of the four kingdoms, and the Great War, not to be confused with the Faunus War. Pleasure to meet you, Doctor ... ?"

"Doctor Patricia Tannis, former DAHL chief scientific advisor and researcher turned leader of the Crimson Raiders, also an avid 'Sirentologist' and an expert on Eridian technology. I have also a small degree in the medical field, then a president of my own club about celestial alien spaghetti that can eventually end the entire universe, slaving us all to the Almighty Robot Policeman. Theoretically. It's nice to see a fellow intellectual who apparently has the same erratic side as I have!", her eye twitches a bit, but so far she hasn't developed anything that triggers her autistic behavior.

"Ah - you must be our alien visitor! - I am rather shocked to see our species are still existing in the stars. Tell me, do normal societies like ours here in Remnant still thrive out there?!", he smiles as he is excitedly curious about sailing across the stars.

"Well, I can assure you there's more than just me and a few humans in a ship that has come this far after dealing a massive fanatic cult. But as for your other question, 'thrive' is not the perfect word - but 'barely surviving' - unlike your precious society here in Remnant, we've been through some planets that have . . . 'uniquely unusual' people, that are either eager to stab you in the front or in the back for money, survival, or just for the FUNSIES! ~ FUN-FUN-FUN!", she then slaps herself and shakes her head. "Ah - apologies, it seems I have somewhere else to be, it was a nice chat with you, Dr. Oobleck, until next time.", she then rushes out of the scene.

Oobleck just watches with a raised eyebrow, "Odd . . . ".

* * *

As Zane arrives home in Beacon, he meets up with the rest of his team, along with Tannis who is still busy tampering with the scrolls. As expected Amara's cooking her delicious cuisine back on her home on Partali. Moze is currently watching the news with a bored face, meanwhile Flak is busy feeding their pets with whatever they bought along the way home.

As soon as Zane shuts the door, they all glance at him, with Moze looking at the old man with a lazy look. "So - you got whatcha' need?"

He smirks as he takes out a calling card from the bartender earlier. "Of course. I always get what I want ~ ", he then goes to the living room and places the calling card on the table, of which they all gather around, except for Tannis.

Amara finishes cooking and uses her magic arms to slowly place their food on the table in front of them. "Alright - what's our plan here?"

"At first I wanna head to this Roman boyo all alone, but since we're all itchin' fer a fight - I say we sneak our way out of Beacon.", he leans his back against the couch.

"We've been here for a couple of days and now we're breaking Mr. Headmaster's rules?! - ", Moze's tone is against the plan at first, but then smiles as she crosses her arms. " - Well, it's been pretty boring here - I'm down."

" **Wait - can we at least tell Ruby and the rest of RWBY and JNPR? That way we can at least have them to give us time to finish whatever Roman is planning.** ", Flak chimes in.

"Flak, I know ya' want ta' cover us up - but those kiddos' will get themselves killed one way or another - they are trained ta' fight Grimm, we're trained ta' fight whatever that's uglier than Amara's curry. - "

Just then Zane glances at Amara, cracking her knuckles loudly while giving Zane a scowl. Immediately Zane looks away, " - I mean uglier than ugly - YOU GET MY POINT! We may be the good guys - but we're NOT the 'Good Guys'. We gotta make a livin', we gotta make more mayhem around here! - It's better than babysittin' these lads and lasses, and they can have their on pretty little plot, that's fer sure. So - ", he leans forward with a devilish smirk. " - who's in?"

Moze raises her hand lazily, "I'm down for some killin' - at least we'll have some secondary source of income other than relying on Ozzy's pockets. "

Flak narrows his eyes at the card. " **I have my doubts in this - but nonetheless, we can make our own way from there. I am also in. Plus my beasts are also hungry for action, they're tired of eating domestic chow and want raw meat.** "

Amara nods at everyone. "Guys, you know I love these types of jobs - this basically screams 'Plot Change'.", she chuckles before taking a spork and starts eating her cooking.

Zane eagerly gets his spork and starts eating the curry. "THEN IT'S SETTLED! - We leave Beacon Academy tomorrow afternoon - the lads and lasses won't be able to interfere with us with weekdays, but we'll make up our excuses once we meet them at Lunch in advance."

But then he turns to Tannis, "Oi Tannis, me and the gang 'ere will go on a little joint tomorrow night - wanna bring ya' a souvenir or some shite?!"

Tannis waves her hand, as if she doesn't want to get herself included with them. "Souvenirs is another word for 'indirect bragging of a place that you are envious of going' - so no thank you. Just bring me a couple of books about Grimm or something about sentient tacos and bananas - because the scent of Amara's curry is starting to get me.", she goes upstairs and goes to her room, locking herself in.

At first everyone's silent, until Amara places the empty plate down. "I don't know if I'll take that as a compliment . . . or an insult. MY CURRY'S THE BEST CURRY!"

Moze snickers as she shrugs while eating. "Eh, I'd say I'd give it an 8 out of 10. The spice has a small bad aftertaste. Might I suggest, a small cup of soda to give a little sweet and spicy flavor?"

Flak nods. " **Do not exaggerate, Amara, my beasts are satisfied with it - and I am satisfied with it . . . mainly because there has no tapioca in it.** "

"Wow, ya' still hate tapioca, don't ya', tin can?", Zane scooches away from Flak as soon as he said that, obviously he knows about Flak's fear back in their trip at Xylourgos.

" **Tapioca is an abomination in this universe . . . it deserves to be eradicated and whoever made tapioca - I will hunt them down to the ends of the galaxies.** ", he growls with fervor.

Moze scoffs at Flak's small outburst about his fear, but then glances at Zane with a stern look. "Though you got more in your head, don't you?", the other two then follows suit, to which Zane sighs as he puts his finished plate down.

"Aye - ", he then taps on his cybernetic eye, and sends the footage of Ember, Mercury and Emerald. "Here's a sneak peek of our soon-to-be villains. Whatcha' guys think?"

Moze just purses her lips, as she scratches the back of her head. "Bunch of scrubs. But that fire lady at the center knows something that we don't. Think we should 'pay them a visit'?", she twirls her combat knife casually.

" **I agree with Moze. Killing them now would be much more efficient. However, that would risk our reputation here in Beacon. Frankly, humans are sometimes naïve, or doesn't have any intuition about their fellowmen's true agenda.** ", Flak chimes in

"We don't have to underestimate them. A threat's a threat. Who knows what damage they will cause around here?", Amara takes their plates and stack them together as they finished eating their dinner.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on - we can't just assume they'll just cause outright shite and shout 'THEY ARE BADDIES' at the top of our lungs. - Clearly these gits have something that we don't have - and if we don't play our cards right, we're gonna get more shite than they do. As much as I want to blast their damn heads off, we gotta keep our cool. You'll get ta' kill them Amara, I promise.", the hitman strokes his beard as he stares at the three teenagers.

Amara looks away from them, and rests her cheek on her fist, "Fine. But if everything goes wrong - I'll - ", she just sighs as wasting her words on that statement. She just grabs the stacks plates and sporks and head to the kitchen sink to wash it all. She can't help but feel a grim aura from that woman, Cinder. For now though, she needs to think straight and like what Zane said, 'gotta keep our cool'.

While Amara is washing the dishes, Flak turns to Zane, while patting Mr. Chew on his lap. " **And what of Ruby and others? - shouldn't they be informed of this too? Let alone the Headmasters, they know how to deal with their threats.** ".

The old hitman takes out a bottle of ale and drinks a good portion of it to clear his head a bit, after that he closes it. "Aye - but I ain't too keen on their methods - pretty sure Ozpin and Glynda will just arrest them and put them into questioning, letting them breathe cus' they are too young and green - because here's the problem of the peeps around here . . . they're too soft - not like us. And I'm pretty sure that Fire lass has some beef with Ozzy - which is why I'm putting this between us and only us. Who knows who will stab us in the back - that lass - or worse, Ozzy."

"None of that make a single sense - but then again, we'll just see how this goes.", Moze rolls her eyes around as she gets up and heads upstairs. "I'll go get some shut-eye."

Flak also gets up and heads upstairs, but before that, he turns around - half glancing at the Operative. " **Zane, if we do ever fail this attempt - do you have a plan for that?** "

He looks down on the floor, and scoffs, looking up at him with a smirk. "I always have a plan for everything, tin can."

* * *

As the sun rises in Remnant, Amara wakes up on her bed, and takes a bath and dresses before heading out of their room, wearing a purple tank top, black jogging pants, and a pair of black-and-purple sneakers. It's time for her early exercise and just doing these kinds of stuff is just nothing to her and eventually became part of her life before, during and after she became the famed Tiger of Partali.

She goes downstairs to see no one there in the kitchen, but smiles as she sees the dish Moze made for her. "Oh right, Moze is cooking today.", she then opens the plate to see perfectly cooked beef steak and a message from Moze. " _Went out for some eggs (And some tools for Iron Bear). Better get some energy for your training or whatever. -_ ", she lets out a giggle before sitting down and eating her breakfast. Once that was done, she then grabs her purple gym bag and heads out of the room, and walks along the hallway - presuming to the Courtyard since she prefers the open space rather than the Amphitheater's enclosed areas.

* * *

But while she is walking around the Courtyard, looking for a good spot to meditate or train she hears the sound of metal clashing loudly, immediately she searches around for the source but only find a certain Huntress armed with a spear and a shield training by herself, out in the courtyard, early in the morning, throwing her spear and retracting with some kind of magic or tech.

Pyrrha then drops her spear and shield and uses her Semblance to try something out. She closes her eyes, extends her hands forward. Channeling more of her Semblance, she clenches both of her hands, hearing the loud shriek of metal being crumpled like a small soda can.

Amara witness all of this and has confusion written all over her face. "How is she doing all that?", she whispers to herself as she walks over to take a closer look.

But Amara's footsteps, immediately gain the attention of Pyrrha, jolting her eyes up, and accidentally moving her hands away, thus the metal dummy shakes violently before being teared into two vertically and laid on the ground.

Pyrrha breaks control of her Semblance, and turns to Amara with a bow and a smile. "You out here to train too?"

"Mhm - keeping myself in good shape is second nature to me. How did you do that? - ", the Siren glances at her target dummy, of which it is already ripped in pieces. Amara mentally winces as she imagines Flak being ripped in pieces like scrap metal, clearly he's gonna have second thoughts about Pyrrha in his sleep if he ever sees this.

Pyrrha didn't speak for a moment, but then realizes the broken dummy and lets out a "Oh you mean, the dummy? - It's the work of my Semblance, which is Polarity. I can control metals, which is how you saw that dummy and I can summon my weapons at will.",

She goes to the dummy and uses her Semblance again to transform the metal chunks into metal sheets to make it neat. "Semblance. It's kind of like your Siren powers. It is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. With the sheer number of people unlocking their Semblances, it can lead to unrelated people gaining similar abilities. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character. But much like any power, there's a limit - that's where Aura comes in."

"Aura? You mean like spiritual aura? Because I don't think my Eridian artifact act the same way. Nor does my digital shield.", Amara checks her waist to see a DAHL shield, called the Black Hole: sucks nearby enemies once it reaches 0 - useful whenever enemies start running away from her.

"Yes Aura is the manifestation of one's soul and can be used for a wide range of abilities. The specific abilities and their strengths differ from individual to individual and are dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training and innate skill. No Aura and No Semblance means a straight defeat, but one can assume."

"Huh - and I thought learning the different shields and artifacts are the only ones confusing. Well, Flak knows a thing or two about those things. And as for that Aura and Semblance, it's amazing - but I don't think it'll synergize for my Siren powers. Anyway, do you always train alone?"

She sighs in defeat. "Y-Yeah . . . apparently my teammates don't have the interest on training early in the morning - not that it's a bad thing. I understand them, but I would like someone who won't mind being a sparring partner for once.", she nervously smiles at her. Ren and Jaune are busy with their school work, while Nora won't take things seriously and eventually get distracted and blow other things up with her Magnhild.

"Well, lucky for you, I could use a change of pace.", Amara shrugs her shoulders as she throws her gym bag on the side, and stretches her arms, loosening up as she walks a few feet away from Pyrrha, "Alright, don't hold back.", she then readies her fists and her body in a combat stance.

Pyrrha throws her spear at Amara, of which Amara dodges it and casually catches it mid-air and throws it back at her, only to see her not there. "Huh? - OOF!", her confusion is interrupted with pain as she is knocked a few meters away from Pyrrha, who lands from above. Amara gets up, and wipes the little blood coming out of her nose.

"Not bad, not bad!", However the brawler thought of it as nothing as she rushes towards her while casting several of her mystical arms, launching towards Pyrrha similar to her Phasecast, but without her Astral Projection.

Despite the incoming massive fists, Pyrrha remains collected and takes out her shield, blocking and dodging the giant fists, while charging at Amara. She then appears from above and slams her with her shield, only to be blocked by her bare fists. They both hold their ground, before Amara smirks, and summons one of her Siren arms from the ground and knocks her away.

As Amara jumps and is about to cast Phaseslam on Pyrrha, Pyrrha dodges it and uses her Semblance to grab her spear and charges at Amara again with her spear and shield at the ready.

But as she is just inches away from her, Amara chuckles and leaps backward to gain some distance between them and lets out a Shock Phasecast on Pyrrha, sending her flying away, yet regains her footing as she pins the spear down on the ground to hold her ground and pick herself up.

However Amara throws a punch at Pyrrha's gut, but Pyrrha times it, blocking it with her shield and headbutts her then roundhouse kicks her in the face, throwing her shield, hitting Amara's stomach and sending her crashing against the wall.

"Damn . . . it!", she growls in pain as she summons her arms to free herself from the wall, and narrowly dodges both Pyrrha's spear and shield, but doesn't have enough time to make an attack for Pyrrha is already up close to her and throws an uppercut.

Amara shakes her head, snapping off from the daze. "So that's how it is, huh? - LET'S DO THIS!", The two engage in an intense close-quarter combat, exchanging blows, punches and kicks - testing to see if which one of them is more tenacious and powerful. Amara uses her aggression at Pyrrha, throwing jab after jab with her bare fists, but Pyrrha has trained for both offense and defense, using her agility to bob-and-weave around her rapid attacks. But to end this spar once and for all, Pyrrha does a low spinning sweep kick, letting Amara loose her footing and does a backflip kick, sending Amara flying in the air again.

But Amara's tattoos glow bright blue and Amara does another Phasecast in mid-air, perfectly aimed at Pyrrha.

As the Huntress lands on the ground and looks up, all she could do is get electrocuted again by Amara's ability,

Both of them panting heavily on the ground, all bruised up by their attacks, but Pyrrha still feels the tingles in her body, a small side-effect after being hit by Amara's Phasecast twice. Normal psychos just die and explode into a fine red mist, but for Pyrrha, it just feels like being hit with a defibrillator, only much, much worse.

"Not bad, Ms. Amara.", the young Huntress smiles as she wipes the sweat from her chin, and stands upright despite her hits taken by the Siren brawler.

She weakly raises her hand with a small mopey face. "Please, don't call me that - that's way worse than being called by my other name."

Pyrrha tilts her head sideways in curiosity. "Wait - you have another name?"

"Well since I'm out of the six galaxies - I'm sure you haven't heard of the 'Tiger of Partali' or just 'Tiger' for short . . . I used to be a big celebrity like you, public figure and all - I have my agents, my publishers, my die-hard fans - but I was also a vigilante, fought crime and make my home safer, not entirely, but it's better than nothing.", she then squats down on the grass as she takes out two bottles of water. " - Here.", then tosses one at her.

Pyrrha catches it with one hand, "Ah thank you - ", she then opens it and replenishes her thirst. She then squats down with her, looking at her tattoos. " - And the reason why you were so famous is because of those tattoos?"

"Yep - turns out I am one of the six Sirens in the universe. The rarest creatures ever lived, their powers being passed down depending on that woman is worthy of wielding the power - of course I make good use of it.", she summons two giant hands out of nowhere behind the two ladies and gives Amara and Pyrrha a back massage with it's index finger and thumb.

It feels awkward, but since her body was sore after that spar, Pyrrha just let it be as she watches the students entering Beacon Academy. "Is there a chance I'll ever see what's out there? You know . . . space and all that?"

Amara looks away and bursts into laughter. "OF COURSE! - I mean Sanctuary 3 is currently making it's rounds back on our galaxy, but they'll be back soon. I'll introduce you to the crew - they're weird in their own way, but they're good people. Well, if you can handle Claptrap that is, that little robot's getting more annoying the longer he continues to live. And I bet you'll have a good time with the B-Team and their Bunkers and Badassess."

Pyrrha chuckles at that, before getting up from the grass, with the mystical hands behind her disappear. "Well, I better go back and check on my team, see if they're still sleeping, Ms. Goodwitch doesn't take too kindly on late comers.", She grabs her spear and her shield, then bows at Amara. "Thanks a lot for today, hope we'll spar again, Amara."

"Don't mention it. It's always nice to have someone to fight with. At least with my bare fists, using my guns are just for times when I really need it.", Amara gets up and grabs her gym bag. "By the way, me and my team will be heading out tonight - you know, enjoying Vale City and all that."

"Huh - okay then, I mean, you all need some time to adjust around here. Farewell.", she smiles as she heads out of the Courtyard, heading back to her team's dorm. But she didn't notice Amara's face slowly change into worry as the Siren lied to her, hoping Pyrrha understands that in the end - the Vault Hunters are not the good guys, just the lesser evils.

* * *

Moze places her trust Shredifier assault rifle down on the table, with the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR, eating their lunch with the Vault Hunters, who have their own meal. "Since the geezer talked a little about the DAHL Corporation, it's about time I talked about mine: **Vladof Corporation**. Think about them as the White Fang - ", Blake suddenly glares at Moze at the corner of her eyes.

" - that supports rebels and paramilitary soldiers all across the six galaxies. I don't know much about their history, but I used to hang out with Comrade Ivan Vladof's sister and one of the corporation's finest nurses, Nina Vladof, whenever I'm near death almost all the time. - ", Blake averts her glare from Moze and just went on to eat her lunch which is her favorite grilled fish.

"That's scary as hell! - Why would you even sign up for a corporation like that?!", Jaune asks her, while timidly eating his lunch.

Moze rolls her eyes around. "I dunno - because of the MECH?! - Like I said, I don't know much about Vladof's history, but I do know, that out of the severael corporations out there, they are the FASTEST when it comes to their weapons. They may not have the accurate and recoiless guns like DAHL, but when you have so many bullets, but so little time: Vladof is the best answer. And this baby says it all - Vladof's iconic weapon - 'The Shredifier'. It's the definition of a 'bullet hose': it deals passable damage per shot, but has a blazing firing speed that allows it to mow down enemies at the cost of extreme ammo consumption. Due to it generating high amounts of recoil, aiming consistently for critical spots can be very difficult."

Ruby's eyes sparkle and slightly drool on the side of her mouth as she takes the gun and examines the parts. "DOES IT FIRE LIKE A CHAINGUN?! - CAN I HAVE MORE OF THIS?!", she giddily asks the veteran gunner. But Moze just shook her head.

"I would give you one if I could, buuuut I wasn't focused on their weapons, too smitten on Iron Bear back then. Why have a chain gun on your hand when you can have 4 miniguns plus a whole arsenal on a 15-ton walking tank?", Moze sips her can of soda.

Weiss narrows her eyes at her, "If this Vladof ever comes to Remnant - what would they do to the people around here?", she then glances at Ruby, who is know aiming the gun around the cafeteria of which she smacks the back of Ruby's head, the latter yelps in pain and dropping the gun on the table again.

"Hmmm - most of the corporations seek for the people's money, but for Vladof, I guess they may push their propaganda and recruit more soldiers to grow bigger, probably sending them off for suicide missions like I did. Otherwise, I would've risen to Commissar Andreyevna and kicked my superior officers' asses to boot camp. Again.", as much as it is a silly thought for her - she wonders if it's possible to go back.

However her thoughts were cut off by Zane's scoff. "Well, at least they're no better than the Atlas Corporation. Those fellas picked themselves right up after their old clusterfuck several years ago - poor General Knoxx."

It was Pyrrha's turn to ask them, "Atlas? But I thought you guys said you are all not from Remnant."

"And surely there's no one in the Atlesian Military that is named General Knoxx. He would've replaced General Ironwood.", Weiss added pointing her fork at Zane.

"What Zane meant is there's another Atlas in the universe, not the Atlesian Military, but the **ATLAS Corporation** , one of the most ruthless megacorporations in the six galaxies - well, used to, until the new CEO turned into a better one that doesn't treat it's employees like trash. It's the norm out there Hyperion, DAHL, Vladof, even fucking Maliwan. Believe me, if you guys get out of Remnant and come with us, then there's a 70-30 chance you'll meet one of them. And I'll tell you this in advance - they aren't as friendly to . . . basically anyone and anything.", Moze pokes her steak, clearly bored.

Hearing all the talk about going to other planets and exploring the galaxy, Nora jumps in her seat. "IWANNAGOTOSPACE! IWANNABESPACEQUEEN!"

"PA-HAHA! Nope, ya' need ta' finish yer school 'ere in Beacon, plus our ship left Remnant's orbit. They'll come back, but only fer a long while. Or not, depends on how they are working without us."

"Ooooo ~ I can't wait! - Ren, imagine the aliens we can rule over!", Nora turns to him, but her friend merely sighs at the absurd idea.

"Your ship - it's Sanctuary 3, right? Amara told me that bit earlier during our spar. - "

"YOU GET TO SPAR WITH HER?! - Oh man! Did she beat you up with her giant fist things?", Yang tries to imitate Amara's poses.

Pyrrha shakes her head, "Apparently, it was a draw - we were both equally matched, maybe because she held back. But perhaps with you, she wouldn't because she fought me with her bare fists. No offense to you Yang, but without Ember Cecilia, your chances of winning are . . . significantly lower. Though that's just my theory.", she tries to utter her statements with kindness so as to not provoke or antagonize her.

" **Amara told you that, huh? Yes, our ship is called Sanctuary 3, named after their flying city back on Pandora, assuming that's what Lilith said to us, before she . . . nevermind, we've indulged you too much. In any case, the name's obvious enough to know that it's our mobile headquarters.** ", however the Vault Hunters remain silent.

Flak looks around the group to see Jaune is currently not eating his food, and with a sad pout. The robot understands this as one of the human emotions he learned during his travels and even though he doesn't care about problems regarding humans, it's fair that this young man deserve to be more proper . . . so he can die gloriously in the future to meet Death herself.

" **Mr. Arc, is something bugging you?** ", the Beastmaster's deep voice catches the young knight's attention.

"OH! - Uhh - I'm doing great, just great.", he nervously laughs as he eats his food, just after Flak asked him. Ruby and Pyrrha also glances at him.

" **Seemingly loss of appetite, nervous laughter, shifting of your eyes and the tone of of your voice. It all checks out.** ", Flak bluntly explains his results of the scan.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait - I didn't ask you to scan me without my permissio - "

"Jaune - are you okay?", the Spartan looking woman leans a little bit to him, looking all worried.

"P-Pyrrha, it's all good!", Jaune sheepishly smiles at them.

"It's that - you seem a little . . . not okay.", Ruby added.

"Guys, guys, I'm fine. Seriously - Look!", Jaune places his hands on his waists, and smiles proudly, trying to put up an act. Though that didn't last long as he sees Cardin, picking on one of the students, which is a Faunus.

Pyrrha looks over to where Jaune was looking and looks away, sighs. "Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school."

"Huh? Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah, he just likes to mess around you know, practical jokes. - "

"He's a bully.", Ruby retorts with a stern look.

"Jaune, if you ever need help, then just ask - "

Nora stands up, " - OH - WE'LL BREAK HIS LEGS! - ", she then slams her fists together with an enthusiastic smile.

" - Guys, it's fine. Besides, he's not just a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone.", the Vault Hunters turn to Velvet being picked on by the four boys.

Moze rests her cheek against her knuckle, smirking at the scene. "Of course, a school doesn't exist without a bully - hehe, and I was a bully of my own boot camp. And by the looks of it - I'm pretty sure he's insignificant in the later chapters - sooo, does anybody wanna mess with him?"

" **That human is too weak for my taste. My figure alone would terrify 'the living shit out of him' - as you humans say. If Amara was here . . . then good thing this place hasn't been painted with blood and guts.** "

"Indeed, it is atrocious. I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one."

"It must be hard to be a Faunus."

Zane remains silent for a moment before he raises his hand lazily. "No worries, lads and lasses. She may be a weird lookin' lass - but a damsel in distress, is a damsel in distress ~ ", the old man smugly fixes the collar of his jacket and smirks as he gets up from his seat.

Jaune tries to stop Zane. "W-Wait, Mr. Flynt! - Y-You can't - ".

" - Settle down, knight boy, let the geezer work his magic.", the gunner snickers as she makes herself comfortable as she is watching the scene. Flak also observes the scene, but he records it, just in case Cardin and his team would ever make a move on Jaune for revenge.

* * *

"OW! THAT HURTS!", the girl yells as she tries to break herself free from Cardin's grip on her bunny ears.

Cardin and the rest of his team bullies Violet, "I told you it was all real!"

"Hahahahaha! - What a freak!", one of Cardin's goons, Russel Thrush, slams his fists on the table, unable to contain his laughter, along with his cohorts - Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark. But that was short-lived when they heard Zane's laughter with them, to which they all stop and stare at him.

Zane stops and smiles at them. "What's wrong, boyos - seem to have picked on the wrong lass here.", he turns to Velvet, of which he jerks his head elsewhere, signaling her to leave. Velvet swats Cardin's hand away and immediately leaves.

Cardin grunts at the old man. "Why do you care, old geezer - this is no place for old farts like you!", Cardin throws a punch at the Irishman, but only to go through him. "What the - "

Zane appears behind him, leaning the side of his shoulder against his armor, casually checking his nails. "Really now? - Then know that is a place fer' young'uns that won't waste their time with hassilin' anybody within a 5 meter radius.", Cardin is further annoyed by Zane and throws another punch only to be stopped, grabbing his fists and twisting it quickly, the loud cracks can be heard all over the cafeteria, of which the students wince at the sound of it.

"Oooooh ~ man, I wanna get into that action. Or maybe Iron Bear will finally have some dummies to calibrate his aim.", Moze smiles as she chuckles while taking a cherry flavored bubblegum and starts chewing it.

" **You'll get yours eventually, Moze. My beasts can have them as their chew toys but nevertheless, humans suffering always make my day.** ", Flak is still recording from a distance.

The rest of Team RWBY and JNPR scooches a little bit away from them. "You guys are sick.", they all said in unison, but The Gunner and The Beastmaster share a light chuckle.

"GET OFF ME YOU OLD GEEZER!" Cardin punches Zane in the face, only to punch a Digi-Clone, which only goes through him. The real Zane teleport to the other side of Cardin and breaks his knees with his cyber legs.

"Seriously mate? What happened to respecting yar elders?", he ends it with a snicker, before Cardin throws another punch only to instantly swap places and takes Violet from Cardin's field of vision. "Ayayayaayyy ~ tsk, tsk, tsk - all those guns but no brains!", he smirks as he outright punches Cardin in the face, breaking his nose, and for an old man, that was just his playful jab. "Honestly, I have to ask yar' parents' how'd you end up here - Oh wait . . . maybe yar' mother knows ~ ".

Cardin's teammates appear ready to hurt Zane after he hurts their leader, all of them pissed off - but deep down, they are reluctant to face him.

The Operative extends his arms wide. "Come on lads, what's the hold up? Afraid a frail old man can kick yer' arses in front of these people? ~ MIGHT AS WELL GET BENT, YA GITS!", he taunts them. Cardin tries to get up on the floor only to be struck on the head with a food tray out of nowhere.

"PAHAHAHAHAHA! YEAH! - GIVE US A SHOW! ~ ", The Gunner throws a can at one of them, she doesn't care about the bullies if they get hurt, the Vault Hunters only care for entertainment for themselves in expense for others' well-being.

Sky and Dove rushes at the old man on both opposite ends, but Zane sighs as he swaps places with his Digi-Clone, letting them both hit each other. But Russel ambushes Zane, from behind, attacking him with a food tray, only to be electrocuted and blown away by an unseen force and with the food try broken in half.

Zane sighs in disappointment, as he picks up his Barrier device on the ground and puts it inside his person, automatically shielding him alone for a short duration. Afterwards he sees Cardin already charging at him, but the old man merely yawns as he does nothing.

"WATCH OUT!", Jaune warns him, though of nowhere, a drone appears from above, shooting non-lethal bullets on Cardin's nape, and shooting him a taser round on his chest, putting him down on the ground like a wild animal.

Cardin groans in pain as his body can't handle much anymore. He's supposed to be a Huntsman, but instead, he got beaten by a surprisingly agile yet cocky old timer armed with gadgets and cybernetics. He then sees Zane's smirk slowly turn into a frown. "The way I see it you got two choices - we both know yar' gonna be irrelevant to the entire series - so you and yer wee pallies better hoof it out of here . . . or you better suck it up, an' take this as a lesson, because if I see you around throwin' shite again like a fookin' monkey, I'll try not break your legs this time. Snappy-snappy ~ ", he shakes his head playfully, as if he was trying to snap his head, before bursting out laughing and getting up.

Zane leaves the scene and goes back to his seat, all with a casual smile. "Welp, that was not thrilling as I hope to be - ".

" - Ehem . . . ", suddenly, Teams RWBY and JNPR immediately sees Glynda, crossing her arms, pissed as always - however not just at Cardin, but at Zane as well. Especially Zane.

The Operative quickly puts on his suave smile at the Headmistress. "Ahh, Ms. Hotwi - Goodwitch! ~ How much did you see?"

She grits her teeth and scowls at him. "Enough to escort you and the Vault Hunters to the Headmaster. Immediately. And don't think you can get away with this act, Mr. Flynt.", she lashes out to him.

"Yer' welcome, beautiful. I was just counseling' some ne'er-do-wells the Flynt way.", the Operative gets up and takes out his whiskey, and whistles as he follows her behind to the Headmaster's Office.

Moze turns to Ruby and the rest. "Welp, we better head out - OH, and sorry we wouldn't be able to hang around tonight. We . . . got some stuff to do. Right, Flak?"

" **Indeed. It is our agenda regarding the Crimson Raiders. Yes. Excuse us.** ", Flak turns away from them immediately and follows Zane and Moze.

* * *

Once they are inside the Headmaster's Office, they see a giant holographic screen, and it seems to a live feed of a middle aged man wearing a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants share the same color as his overcoat and are tucked into silver boots accented in gray.

"And who are they, Ozpin?"

"Just a few helping hands that are willing to help the Festival.", Ozpin drinks his warm coffee in his trusty mug.

As soon as Moze sees the military uniform she lets out a groan, "Oh great . . . a military figure - honestly this is the last thing that I need right now.", Moze rolls her eyes around, "Feels like I'm in my early days. I fucking hate my early days."

"Vault Hunters this is General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, as well as a general in the Atlesian Military and a holder of two seats on the Atlesian Council. James, these people are the ones that crash landed here on Remnant few days ago. And they are a part of a small organization called the Crimson Raiders, as informed by the leader here, Doctor Tannis."

Tannis is still tampering with the Scroll before, perking her head up and nods rapidly. "Yes indeed."

"Hmm - and people mistook you all as aliens."

"Well, 'alien' seem to be used in a general term, not 'green men' or 'space tentacles'."

Ironwood turns to the robot, "Indeed - you seem to be highly intelligent for a sentient machine."

Flak shrugs his shoulders. " **My creators gifted me with such knowledge and intelligence - which resulted to my sentience, however, do not think that you can control me like the rest of the automatons.** "

Zane steps up. "So you're the boyo that controls Atlas . . . Hmmm, actually THIS IS HOW I pictured him to be! HAH! What're the odds. So - what do ya' want from us, Ozzy?", he turns to Ozpin.

Ozpin turns to Ironwood. "General Ironwood will make his appearance in the upcoming Vytal Festival, I assume you all know what's a festival in the first place, yes?", then turns to the team.

Zane and Moze just shrugs, but Flak nods. " **Yes, apparently this festival is an international festival held every two years in one of the Kingdoms of Remnant in celebration of the end of the Great War. During the festival, the various cultures of the world are celebrated with dances, parades and a combat tournament. The host kingdom of the festival rotates every two years, and the host opens its borders to visitors from the other kingdoms. The tournament rotates which kingdom it is held in, using the following cycle: Vacuo, Mistral, Vale, Atlas.** **In this case, it's going to be held here in Vale. And judging by our immediate presence here and General Ironwood - it seems we're tasked with something meager - like patrol duty.** ".

Moze widens her eyes at the mention of it. "Combat tournament? Now that's something you don't see everyday."

"Actually the older batch of Vault Hunters before you attended a combat tournament. However, I don't recall the results after that. Maybe because the Torgue's CEO kept yelling and screaming in the ECHOnet.", Tannis speaks as she recalls the location of the tournament: The Badass Crater of Badassititude.

"Back on the topic, yes, since hundreds of people all across Remnant will celebrate here in Vale, we need to increase our security personnel, just in case something goes wrong.", Ironwood states in the screen.

"Well a big event like that - there's bound to be something wrong. But don't worry lads, we'll just do what we always do: Playing it cool ~ ", Zane smirks confidently at them.

Ironwood nods at them. "Very well.", though his tone doesn't say friendly or grateful. He shifts his eyes to the Headmaster. "Ozpin, we'll talk later.", then the screen shuts off.

Moze breathes a sigh of relief. "That went well. At least we know which Atlas is our Atlas, heh. Oh and Ozpin - ", and Moze was about to say something else, but then sees Zane with a deadpan stare. Moze purses her lips and smiles, " - ah nevermind. Sorry about that guys.", she chuckles before leaving the office with Tannis, Zane and Flak. Ozpin blinks his eyes a bit, wondering what was that about.

* * *

Now outside the office, Zane takes out his ECHO device and contacts Amara, "Oi, 'Mara - where are you?"

"Just finished changing in the gym, why? We heading out?", the Siren speaks softly through the ECHO.

"Outside Junior's Club, 7:30 PM. Be there.", the old man ends the call immediately and catches up to his friends to prepare for their first gig.

* * *

Amara wears her usual outfit instead of her gym one. She checks the Scroll to see the time. "It's 8:00 PM - late as always.", she exhales through her nose and pinches her forehead. But then hears a series of footsteps behind her.

The rest of her team, already there, equipped with their weapons, arrive at the back alley. Moze is gripping her Shredifier with the legendary Vladof rocket launcher, the ION CANNON on her back, eager to search and destroy. Flak on the other hand, has his beasts, all over him. Mr. Chew climbing on top of his head, while Meat-Thief is the ground beside him, taking out it's Jakobs shotgun, and Broodless, is still inside Flak's backpack, ready to pounce. And lastly Zane, just taking a drink of his favorite ale before closing it and putting the flask back in his jacket. "Alright, guys, follow my lead and play nice.", he smiles as he heads inside Junior's Bar.

The other three straighten themselves up and follow suit - remembering how they entered a bar like this where they all first met.

* * *

The club itself is an old brick building with arched windows. Entrance is via a pair of large sliding doors that open automatically. The dance floor is directly ahead, down a flight of stairs. Six large crystalline pillars surround the floor, with the DJ's booth located on the opposite side from the entry stairs. A long bar is along the left side of the dance floor. There are several balconies along the walls overlooking the dance floor, connected by stairs. Above the dance floor on the ceiling is a rotating ring shaped rig of light, laser and holographic projectors. Additional projectors are mounted on fixed rigs between the columns. currently occupied with formal looking gangsters.

On the counter, a middle aged man wearing a black vest over a white dress shirt, a red tie, black gloves and black dress pants. He has gray eyes, short black hair, along with a matching beard and mustache.

But what Zane is meeting with is on one of the counters, had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye. He wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band.

As the Vault Hunters enter the Club, the henchmen along with the bartender all stare at them. Some of the henchmen are downright confused as to who they are and are completely unnerved by Flak's beasts, Amara's tattoos, Moze's weapons and Zane's casual smile as he walks forward, ignoring their glares.

The four grab their own seat at the counter, with the old man raising 4 fingers. "Four shots of yer' top shelf.", he takes out his Lien from his jacket and places it down on the counter, like he always do on the other bar yesterday.

Junior sighs as he swipes the Lien off the counter and starts pouring the ingredients of the club's finest drink, but while he's doing that, he takes a glance at Flak's beasts, growling in their place, especially Mr. Chew, the skag adorably licking Flak's face while letting out a low purr. "Hmmm - those things rabid?"

Flak, his head face down, slowly raises his head up, his green eye staring at him. " **They are with me - and yes, they know when and where to defecate. So you and your little club may rest easy.** ", The bartender just scoffs while he's minding his own business.

On the other hand, Amara sees two women staring at them, but all she did is a wink and a sly smirk before looking away, turning to the Gunner. "You know this place ain't half bad at all as far as clubs go."

Moze shrugs, "Well, it's better than a rave back at the military. Speaking of military, looks like we got another case from Ozzy. We had a little chat with the general of Atlas, and he's exactly what you think he is - "

"Straight to the point and boring?"

The former soldier chuckles as she hears footsteps nearby. "Straight to the point and boring."

"Here you go.", Junior then arrives with 4 glasses of their best drink and spoke with his rough monotone voice, afterwards, he then goes in the back.

Moze and Amara take their glasses and smile at each other, the Gunner raising her glass first, "I guess this is a small toast for being the first aliens here on Remnant."

"Eh - I could've thought of a better one, but yeah - screw it.", the two clink their glasses together and they both down their drinks, with Amara completely taken aback from the flavor. "अच्छाई मुझे (Goodness me), haven't drank alcohol that good since my celebration on Yetta Stonetooth's death."

* * *

While the other three are just in their seats, Zane leans a little bit on the counter, staring at his drink. "You must be Roman Torchwick."

He pulls out a cigar and his iconic zippo-style lighter, lighting it and blows a puff of smoke. "And you must be the one that nearly broke my boy's leg. Shame you went easy on him. He and his little street rat can take quite a beating. Believe me."

He pauses for a moment before smiling at him. "But a little bird told me a certain old man that has a one-of-a-kind tech that not even those nerds Atlas can think of. And able to cause a little scene with little Em and Merc. Let's just get this out of the way. You, my good sir, are an unknown, you are not even in the list of criminals all over the four kingdoms. So who are you?"

Zane downs the drink places the glass down. "Name's Zane. Zane Flynt. I'm here fer a little gig with me mates. The lass with the guns is Moze, the tin can with the animals is Flak, and the lass with the tattoos is Amara."

Roman turns to the other three, raising an eyebrow at them. "Quite the posse you have. And you seem eager to fight, short stuff. You compensating for something, hm? ~ "

Moze felt like a vein pulsating inside. But on the outside, her left eye twitches erratically. "Call me short stuff again and I'll show you what, jackass!", the Shredifier's barrels starts spinning slowly, Roman can hear the rapid clicking of the gears, but he was just messing around, letting out a light laugh and puffing another burst of smoke from his cigar.

" **Of course, yet a busy man like you have a lot on your table, and it just so happens that we are professionals in need of some Lien.** "

Roman can't help but chuckle, "Ohohohohohohoho - well I'm afraid you have come a tad too late, I already have enough fooooooor - ", he stops for a moment, as he just thought of an idea. " - ON SECOND THOUGHT! - There is something you can do for me.", he snaps his fingers to call in a young woman approaching the Zane and the Vault Hunters.

The young lady wears a white cropped wide, broad tailed jacket with a pink interior, collar, a single gold button and large pink cuffs. She wears brown pants with a dark belt that has a gray buckle and an additional narrow belt under it. Under her jacket is a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wears a multitude of black beaded necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. Neo also wears black and white spat styled under the knee boots alongside black gloves.

The young lady gives Roman a dark brown folder. "Thank you, dearie. ~ ", he smiles at Neo, to which the young woman only replies with a kind smile and a lady-like bow.

"Here." Roman slides the folder to Zane, and opens it, showing pictures of two old warehouses, looks abandoned but Zane can see several armed personnel patrolling around the area, using forklifts and lots of metallic crates. "A little bit of history - that location was used as a weapons factory during the Great War, when the people of Vale were arming themselves to face . . . whatever they were fighting - I'm just a simple man with simple needs, not a historian who knows when is the end of the world."

Moze looks at the photos, seeing the guards surrounding the area. "Who are these guys? It looks like they're from a military on their weapons alone, assault rifles and shotguns aren't common out there."

"Them? Hah! - Those are just goons from another rival gang. These days, the military life is absolute shit, so shit in fact, that they left for some . . . fun. Even some of my men used to be security guards, sergeants, even lawyers. Also, my scouts have reported at least 20 - maybe 30 heads total. We'll be doing a 'Clean and Sweep' so either you go silent, or go guns blazing - I don't care, as long as you get the job done. - AND BOTH of the warehouses are needed to be intact - I have shipments of Dust waiting to be sold, and I don't like showing off my . . . products, out in the open."

"With the place that big and the men heavily armed. How much are we getting paid?", Amara questions him.

"Well, since I'll need that place for my own business. I'll make things sweeter. How about 5,000,000 Lien each? ~ Maybe because I got a good feeling about you four. Maybe. Because if you all cross me - well . . . let's not get too ahead of ourselves, for we are fellow professionals.", Roman smiles while crossing his legs. "So - do we have a deal?"

Moze and Zane immediately went wide at the sheer amount of money being offered, even bigger than Ozpin's reward back at Emerald Forest. Moze thinks it's enough to buy a butt load of nukes for Iron Bear, while Zane is thinking about booze and cybernetics he can buy off of it. However, Flak and Amara are just here for the action - it's about time they get some mayhem going. The old man lets out a heartily laugh before standing up from his seat. "Aye - it's a deal, boyo. Ya' can count on us."

Roman scoffs. "Don't get too cocky now, Mr. Flynt. Who knows what you'll find there.", he places the cigar on an ashtray and extinguish it, then lights another one.

As soon as the Vault Hunters leave the bar, Junior arrives from the back notices the empty glasses. "Hmmm - I expected you to be more condescending. You sure they can handle it?"

Roman sighs as he stands up and grabs his cane. Neo arrives by his side, holding a parasol over her. "Something tells me, they will put on quite a show. 'Til next time, Junior.", he then leaves the bar with Neo, the latter happily skips beside him.

* * *

In the middle of the night, one guard, wearing a dirty brown uniform - carrying a poorly maintained assault rifle. He sees the warehouses in the distance and suddenly his radio acts up. "Seeing any activity?"

The guard looks around in the forest behind him, he turns on his flashlight and peers behind the bushes. But he shrugs his shoulders. "Nope - this area's clear. I'll radio y'all if something's up.", he then turns off the radio to save batteries.

But before he can take another step, he feels a sharp blade sliced across his neck, slowly but surely, he falls down on the ground, but he sees his body - headless, and eventually falls limp on the ground, bleeding profusely. He tries to open his mouth to scream, but a bullet whizzes straight through his head, killing him.

Zane smirks as he deactivates his Digi-Claw drags the body in the bushes. "Alrighty - South Sector is clear. What about on your end, lasses and tin can?"

* * *

Surrounded by dead bodies, Moze reloads her Shredifier, and checking her ammo. "East Sector is all good here."

Unbeknownst to her, a soldier covered in blood and guts from his fellow goons, is crawling away from her - about to radio for reinforcements. But a large metallic foot squashes the soldier's upper torso like thick jelly, preventing from calling reinforcements, and burns the remaining bodies with it's flamethrowers, quickly charring all of them.

Moze turns to Iron Bear and chuckles. "Yep, all good. ~ "

* * *

"NO! PLEASE, NO! - ", but the cries of the guard is cut off after being incinerated by one of Amara's giant mystical fist.

The rest of the guards are suffering in different elemental types. Electrocuted to death, slowly melting in corrosive acid, and frozen solid. Amara flicks a finger to one of the frozen bodies, letting it fall down to the other fragile ones, shattering into pieces.

Amara then radios the rest of her team, reloading her SF Force SMG. "West Sector is empty by yours truly."

* * *

Flak takes a sniping spot in the watchtower, , equipping a silencer on his sniper rifle, watching the entire compound, filled with goons. " **The North Sector was clear, but I am in position at a watchtower. I can see you three from here.** "

Behind Flak are his beasts. Mr. Chew devouring a guard body, while Broodless is wrapping another body with it's tough spiderant silk probably to keep it fresh once this mission is over, and Meat-Thief is guarding their back with his trusty shotgun.


	9. To Kingdom Come

Zane perched behind the fuel tanks behind him, he takes out his ECHO-3 device and sees the layout map of the entire compound. He can see the different icons of his teammates moving forward slowly as they take out guards on the outer end.

He then issues a group call, "Oi fellas, is the outer compound clear?".

Flak radios in, " **The guards have all been killed on my end.** "

"All guards are down, I also used their own walkie-talkies against them, tricking them into speaking each other.", Amara also chimes in.

"How the hell did you do tha - you know what nevermind. The guards are dead here, but I think the chatter inside is getting louder. I think we need a distraction, lure them out Pandoran style.", Moze starts hearing some shouting coming out of the two warehouses.

He smiles as he sees the giant volatile tanks behind him, "Oh I got an idea, but you fellas better be ready, 'cause this is gonna be a BIG one.", he then ends the call.

* * *

She sighs as she tucks her ECHO device on her pants, and sees a guard, already pissed off as he is looking for the rest of his friends, not knowing that the bodies are already gathered in one place.

As Moze about to slice the guard's throat unnoticed, she suddenly hears an explosion coming from the south followed by a familiar crazy laughter, alerting all of the guards in the vicinity. "What the - ", she immediately sees the large fuel tanks explode into a fiery blaze and smirks at it. "Guess that's the signal."

One of the goons pop out of nowhere, "HEY! - WE GOT COMPANY ON THE SOUTH!".

"OH HELL YEAH! - HEY ASSHOLES!", Moze pops out of cover, revealing herself. Then the enemy guards snaps their attention at her.

She immediately uses her Shredifier assault rifle and open fires at the guards leaving Warehouse 1 but not on the inside, breaking the stealth section of the mission.

She starts murdering the thugs before they could get a chance of fighting back, hell, she almost felt bad for these guys, spending their time in the life of crime just to die at the hands on a badass chick with a minigun-assault rifle hybrid made by a dieselpunk looking megacorporation.

And to seal off any exit, besides the main entrance, she tosses her favorite grenade mod, which is made again by her former military: the Storm Front. She tosses two grenades just outside the entrance.

One of the goons try to escape only to be instantly electrocuted to death by Moze's lethal electric field. The Gunner bursts into laughter as she continues to murder more and more of them, hosing them down with lead.

"Ooooo ~ looks like Amara's having the time of her life!", She then hears the sound of Amara fighting the grunts and eager to go for some action, not knowing she left the Warehouse 1 uncleared.

* * *

Hearing the massive explosion nearby, Flak merely shakes his head and chuckles while standing atop the Watchtower, and extends his arms forward, summoning legions of fiery Rakks on both of his arms, providing Air Superiority on his teammates.

The Rakks use their sharp incendiary talons and beaks to slice them apart, and if they survive that, they still have that painful burning sensation lingers in their body. They all scream in agony in the middle of the night.

" **FRIENDS! IT'S TIME TO HUNT!** ", he then commands his pets to jump off the Watchtower, one by one, raining down upon the poor criminals on Warehouse 2, tearing them into shreds. Mr. Chew uses his long whip-like tongue to choke the guards and devour their heads each, happily munching their entire faces with his face-mouth, good thing the skag's physiology is made to hunt prey that are slightly larger

"WHAT THE . . . IS THAT A MONKEY HOLDING A ROCKET LAUNCHER?! Meat-Thief is currently shooting rockets from it's trusty rocket launcher, from long range - preventing them from escaping.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! - THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THESE CRITTERS! SOMEBODY HELP ME - AAAHHHHHH!", one of the goons cry for help as his stomach is bursting from the inside out as Broodless uses her claws and her handy drill forearm to easily penetrate their light armor, if they are wearing any in the first place.

Flak snipes a few guards that are running away from the scene, making sure that there are no survivors. While in his scope, he squints his eye and sees Amara punching her way to Warehouse 1, when someone is ready to ambush behind her.

* * *

"SHOOT THAT TATTOO CHICK!", A group of goons open fire at the Siren using their Dust rounds, but Amara smirks as she lets her shield run down to zero, because as soon as it has depleted, all of a sudden a singularity pulls them all towards her.

Amara smugly grins before leaping in the air and casts a Phaseslam straight down just as the bandits are in perfect proximity, turning them into thick red paste.

Several guards came charging at her, but Amara beats them all down with one hard punch and another stomping on their heads, squashing their head on the ground until their skull cracks open like an egg and even better; more brain matter all over the ground.

Fight. Fight. She needs to fight. "Yes . . . YEESS! ~ MORE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! ~ ", Amara laughs maniacally as she casts a Phasegrasp on the big guy towering over her and summons a massive red-orange fist from the ground, right next to the bubble and slams it right back down, burning him alive and killing him.

She then notices the guards take several steps back from her, however this further pissed her off. "NO! DON'T YOU ALL FUCKING LEAVE! - FACE ME, COWARDS! ALL OF YOU COME AT ME!", Amara yells in the middle of the fight, grabbing a skinny man, crawling away for dear life before she grabs his shirt and lifts him up. slowly ripping him into two horizontally starting from the waist the large amount of warm blood poured over her, bathing herself in front of her adversaries, barely felt the dead man's bones dropping on her head.

She then drops the skinny man's body down, but a stray shot nearly killed her, she looks to where the shooter is, only to see Flak, raising a hand.

The Siren nods at the Beastmaster, thanking him before charging at the guards, running away from her. She then casts Phasegrasp again, this time, the Skill Augment: TIES THAT BIND, which enemies near the target are linked. When a linked target takes damage, a portion of that damage is inflicted on other linked targets.

She then leaps in the air again and does a Phaseslam, killing the one being Phaseslammed, but the huge shockwave, is enough to send the other flying upwards like little ragdolls. Afterwards she sees Moze running at her, "MOZE, IRON - "

" - WAAAY AHEAD OF YOU!", Moze digistructs out Iron Bear now fully loaded with dual homing rocket launchers. She uses the split-second tracking, and locks on the flying goons in mid-air. Then fires all of it's high explosive, painting the warehouses with fountains of blood and limbs, finally finishing their combo. "WOOOOOOHOOOOO! - THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!". Moze cheers inside Iron Bear's cockpit.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zane is standing around, disappointed that he had to use the last of his grenades in his SDU - such a big shame he never got to buy more Grenade SDUs from Marcus back in Sanctuary, = probably because he kept spending the rest of his hard-earned cash, into gambling. And buying guns that have the best Anointments for him (WHICH IS ENTIRELY ANNOYING IN THE LATE-GAME - FUCKING FIX IT GEARBOX!)

"Ah ta' hell with this shite - ", Zane is about to call his team again, but he hears the sounds of guns cocking behind him, assuming they are all ready to fire at him. But what they didn't expect is for Zane to casually smile at them. "Nothin' personal, boyos! Just business! ~ ".

He brings out his Digi-Clone remote and swaps places with his digital self before the grunts could even open fire at the real Zane. Unfortunately, the Digi-Clone dies, acting like a drama king and not even the clone isn't taking this seriously. Though before the clone dies he smirks as he points at the giant burning fuel tanks.

The real Zane moves away from the volatile tanks, and uses the detonator, "Welp, TO KINGDOM COME!", he then presses the button which causes a massive explosion behind him, blowing up the large fuel tanks from the base, and letting the explosion radius kill them all in the vicinity. Those who tried to escape are hunted down by Zane's SNTL drone, patrolling the outer boundaries of the area.

However, his plan goes on without a hitch , as the large fuel tanks falls down on the outer compound, setting a large portion in flames, but at least the warehouses nearby aren't affected at all.

"Oh crap . . . ", He then hears gunshots in the distance and rushes to help his team, hastily sprinting towards them.

* * *

" **Moze, Amara - there are still enemy signatures inside Warehouse 1 - we need to clear that place out before the enemies have a chance to retaliate.** ", Flak calls them via ECHO.

"Don't worry! They won't stand a chance against us!", But Amara rushes to the Warehouse 1 hoofing to kill more of the guards.

Moze tries to catch up to her with a worried, something doesn't feel right. Why would the enemy hole up in the Warehouse when the other guards are getting massacred by them. "AMARA - WAIT UP!"

Amara stops at the large front gate of Warehouse 1, and turns to Moze as soon as she was being called. But what turned to be a one-sided massacre has become a turn for the worse. An obstacle that the Vault Hunters will have to face together.

A giant metal hand bursts from the metal door and grabs Amara, raising her up and then slamming her down on the ground. Afterwards, the threat begins to reveal itself to the Vault Hunters, prying the large door open out of it's way to face them all.

And of course . . . the title card appears.

* * *

_**ATLESIAN PALADIN-290 PROTOTYPE - COMMENCING OBLIGATORY ROBOT FIGHT SCENE . . .** _

* * *

"AMARA!", Moze yells as the giant mech then grabs Amara and throws her out of the way, slamming her against a concrete wall, and falls down on the ground, unconscious.

"SONNUVA BITCH! - FLAK, WHAT IS THIS THING?!", Moze retaliates by firing all of Iron Bear's homing rockets at the mech's overall structure, which it was a successful knockback, however the thick plating of the mech, proves to be quite challenging,

Flak uses his the scope of his sniper rifle to identify the mech from afar, keeping the ECHO device near him. " **The Atlesian Paladin boasts a tough armor that makes it very strong and resistant to attacks. However, the mech itself cannot take repeated blows and is susceptible to being destroyed if hit by a much stronger attack.** "

" **In addition, the mech is armed with multiple laser sights: one is mounted under the cockpit, two are mounted on the upper corners of the cockpit and at least two, one on each side, more laser sights are mounted on the back shoulders of the mech. They are accurate enough to detect extremely quick movement, but they do not offer pinpoint accuracy.** "

"Then that's more than enough!", Moze replies and dodges the mech's machine gun barrage and the full brunt of the mech's firepower. Even though Iron Bear is smaller in comparison to the Atlesian Paladin, the Vladof Iron Bear is more agile and mobile in the battlefield, which is essential to every warfare; Mobility and Maneuverability.

But the pilot is smart just like Moze, even this mech doesn't belong to Atlas or any robotics facility, a mech is still a mech. The Paladin mech stomps down on the ground, causing a massive earthquake around the compound, thus losing balance on Iron Bear.

Moze tries to regain Iron Bear's footing, "SHIT!", The Paladin mech then takes the opportunity to shoot down Iron Bear's shield and knocks the mech away, but the Vladof mech still remains durable, but dented.

Sparks fly inside the cockpit, which is Moze is already used to situations like this, though she needs to get her bearings fast as the mech is approaching and about to fire its massive weapons. "Argggh - Come on, come on, Iron Bear. Don't you give up on me, baby!",

Moze groans in pain inside the cockpit, and tries to move Iron Bear's leg, of which is it is stuck under heavy pile of debris from the fuel tanks. She shifts her glance at the Paladin mech, seeing it's already charging its guns and ready to finish her off. "No, no, no, no, NO! - "

Yet the Paladin doesn't deserve it's victory kill, as a giant irradiated Mr. Chew pops out of nowhere, ripping its guns main guns off, while the giant Meat-Thief doesn't use it's gun but using its massive hands, both of them are in some sort of trance of rage.

" **Not on my watch! -** ", Flak appears out of nowhere in front of of the debris, thanks to his Fade Away ability and starts digging out the debris to free Iron Bear. Broodless, also pops out of the ground and drills the debris out.

Meanwhile the Paladin mech grabs Meat-Thief and Mr. Chew then kicks both animals away, crashing against the large trees outside the compound, with Mr. Chew letting out a loud whimper, calling out for his master.

Flak immediately stands up, " **MY BEASTS ARE DOWN! -** ", he then runs away from the Paladin and Iron Bear, prioritizing his beasts before they die.

"Ohohohoho - you done fucked up now, asshole! I wonder if this new upgrade works ~ ", Moze then gets herself up and digistructs Iron Bear's Vanquisher Rocket Pods away, replacing it to Miniguns. "Time to pepper you up!".

The 4 miniguns on the mech spin-up together and lets loose the true Vladof fire rate, using armor penetrating bullets to tear the vulnerable parts of the Paladin mech that was exposed thanks to Mr. Chew and Meat-Thief, damaging it even further.

But the central armor of the Paladin mech is still tough as nails, not even the armor-piercing bullets from Iron Bear can tear it up so easily. And to this advantage, the Paladin pilot has a last ditch resort - using the entire Paladin mech to destroy Iron Bear up close and personal, taking advantage of it's sheer size instead of it's weapons, all of it are focused on Flak's pets. The Paladin bipedal mech, readies itself for a moment, kneeling down on one knee, before boosting itself straight towards Iron Bear.

"SORRY FOR BEIN' LATE! ~ GO GET 'EM ZOOMER!", Zane arrives just in time to summon SNTL drone and orders the SNTL drone to fire a burst of missiles to halt it's aggressive charge at Iron Bear. He takes out his Nemesis pistol and an improvised bomb on his hand, by the handiwork - clearly this is made on his way here. "MOZE! - SWITCH TO YAR RAILGUNS ON MY SIGNAL! I GOT A PLAN! - KEEP THAT PEPPERIN!".

Zane dodges a semi-collapsible fist, barely missing it, he then turns to the Beastmaster. "FLAK, KEEP THAT BIG BOYO BUSY! - USE YER RAKKS OR WHATEVER YA GOT IN YER POCKETS!"

Flak helps up his beasts, and turns to the Paladin mech, " **Very well! -** ", he extends his hand towards the Paladin mech, trying to aim it's weapons at Zane, but the old is too unpredictable, the enemy pilot needs a guaranteed shot, and that's a flaw from the Paladin has. " **BEASTS, ATTACK ONCE MORE!** ", he channels his energy from his core, and summons all three beasts raining down upon the mech, all in their gigantic forms.

The mech is being destroyed as it is being distracted by the large pets, trying to rip the mech into shreds from all sides, but that wasn't the finishing move yet. Zane runs around the back of the Paladin mech and climbs onto it, using his Digi-Claw to pry open the machine.

Once he rips the cover panel, he sees a big ass core that is powering the Paladin mech and smirks. "Jackpot! ~ ", he then sets up the improvised bomb right beside the core and gives it a gentle pat, like patting a little baby's head.

He peers behind the Paladin mech, looking at Moze and Iron Bear. "NOW, MOZE!", he then hops off the Paladin mech and runs off to safety, but taking out his remote detonator again and presses the switch, it explodes, the mech glitches and reveals the last goon in the cockpit, trying to fight for his life.

But Moze digi-structs her Iron Bear's weapons again, this time with Dual Shock Railguns. The railguns charge up rather quickly and Moze wastes no time on firing the shot.

The blast disintegrated the last goon, and even piercing through the mech, showing that not even Remnant's Atlas, the power house of all 4 kingdoms, has the protection nor the fire power to withstand Vladof and presumably, the other megacorporation's might.

Moze finally exits Iron Bear, while her face sweating bullets and breathing heavily. "Goddamn, that was a bitch to take down.", but then her face fell to see Amara being carried by Zane and Flak, Amara's head is bleeding, but the Siren wakes up and just frowns at them. "Oh god, Amara - are you alright?!", Moze quickly takes out a Med Hypo from her SDU an injects her Amara's neck carefully.

Amara winces at the needle being inserted in her neck, but then lets out a breath of relief as she feels the warm liquid that's healing her cells inside her body. "Arggh - sorry, guys. I got carried away back there."

Zane shakes his head and chuckles. "Nah, lass - ya' did good. Getting carried away is part of the damn job! HAHAHA! I mean all of this fer 5,000,000 Lien each. What a deal."

Flak nods as he gathers his beasts around, feeding them with the limbs of the goons. " **Indeed. 'Twas a violent mission, but honestly, it was quite thrilling and fun. I say this is a success.** "

However, whilst the Vault Hunters are celebrating a bit, what they don't know - is the Auto-pilot function from the Paladin mech, without the pilot, the mech aims it's last weapon at Zane, before Roman and Neo arrives, with Roman using his Melodic Cudgel to shoot the A.I dead, saving the Vault Hunters. He then sees the Vault Hunters staring at him.

Roman just smirks at them smugly, "What? - You guys didn't know it had an autopilot?"

* * *

_**SEVERAL MINUTES LATER . . .** _

* * *

Outside of the compound, Roman and the Vault Hunters watch as his men clean the place up, bringing in huge cargo trucks to dispose the dead bodies and debris, and the delivery trucks, which carries his 'products' which is just Dust. Roman takes out a cigar and lights it with his zip-lighter, puffing another burst of smoke underneath the moonlight.

Roman observes the entire thing, while Neo approaches the Vault Hunters, now delivering 4 large suitcases. Despite the large size of it, Neo doesn't feel anything taxing to her and just feels like she's carried heavier things than these. Roman smiles at the briefcases and at the Vault Hunters. "Well, everyone, you all have done a great work tonight ~ I mean, I was expecting the warehouses to be much in better shape . . . but then again . . . the part where you blew up the large fuel tanks fought an Atlesian Paladin, that was quite the show ~ "

Zane opens one of the briefcases, and lets Flak calculate the amount. But the robot Beastmaster looks to Roman and Neo, squinting his eye at him. " **Hmmmm . . . I have calculated the amount of these briefcases is 5,500,000. Why the sudden generosity, Mr. Torchwick?** ", Moze and Amara glance at the two criminals.

Roman just smirks confidently at them. "Well, my robot friend. That is called 'business' - you see, a Paladin is quite the workhorse in the Atlesian military, I know it because let's say I have my own knowledge about these machines. And I KNOW for a fact, that a large amount of skilled people can take down a Paladin. But just with you four? I . . . I didn't believe what I was seeing: Giant Irradiated Monsters? Weird looking fists popping out of nowhere? A mech that can switch guns on the fly? Hell, I EVEN SAW THE OLD MAN WAS FASTER THAN ANY GRIMM I'VE SEEN ON MATING SEASON! - AND THAT DIDN'T MADE ANY SINGLE SENSE!", Roman jerks his cane at Zane.

Roman breathes a long sigh to compose himself. " - And that's the reason why you four earned this bonus ~ ".

Zane smiles widely as he takes his briefcase. "Thank ya kindly, boyo. And thanks fer savin' me arse on that auto-pilot. What're ya gonna do with the mech?"

"Oh, I have a great idea about that mech . . . I know an asset when I see one ~ ", he smirks devilishly at the destroyed Atlas Paladin mech being pieced together by his men in the distance.

Moze checks the time on her Scroll, then looks at everyone. "Welp, looks like we're outta here - time to get some shut eye. See you 'round, you two.", the Gunner then leaves the scene, along with the Operative, the Siren, and the Beastmaster.

"Wait - "

The Vault Hunters stopped and turn to Roman, who looks down with a stern face. "Is there by any chance you'll come by for the next job? Who knows, it might be interesting than this ~ ", he widens his arms behind the captured compound, with the sound of bustling forklifts carrying Roman's shipments.

Zane looks over at the compound and just smirks at him, "Don't worry, boyo - we'll keep in touch. Gonna use these Lien to some goodies fer our meals.", the old man and his group are now heading back to Beacon for dinner.

Roman and Neo both look at each other and shrug their shoulders and turn their backs on the Vault Hunters, the rest is up to the two of them.

* * *

_**BEACON ACADEMY** _

* * *

Meanwhile in Beacon's faculty room, in the middle of the night, Tannis is currently wandering around the large empty room and sees Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck having a chat while drinking their favorite drinks, Oobleck with coffee and Port with his tea.

"I'm with Glynda here, Port. This time will just be the same! - The students here are just as rowdy and disobedient. We need to discipline them more if they need to be proper Huntresses and Huntsmen.", Oobleck speaks to Port, convincing to change some things around the school, such as increasing with their strict policies.

"Ahh - don't worry about them. As much as I know about the history of Remnant, what good does it do when you are pressured so much by so many mundane things! - It'll kill them far earlier than the Grimm do!", the veteran Huntsman lets out a laugh, somehow not taking his friend seriously.

Oobleck lets out a groan, and sees Tannis walking around. He waves his hand quickly, "Ahh, Doctor Tannis - good to see you again. Is there something you need?", Doctor Oobleck turns to her and sips on his evening coffee.

The former DAHL scientist immediately takes a few steps back, triggering a "O-Oh! Don't mind me, I was just exploring this Academy to surely explore every nook and cranny - and I assure you that I have no malicious intent to sabotage this prestige school. In fact, I was thinking of making a secondary lab here: preferably in the vents, it's so cozy there for some reason.", she wraps her arms around herself.

Port raises an eyebrow at Oobleck, "Doctor Tannis? Oobleck, is this one that you have taken intere - OOF!"

Oobleck then gives him a pat on the back, albeit a bit rough, Port letting out a cough. " - LET'S not get into that into that, Professor Port. We don't want to embarrass ourselves to one of our fellow intellectuals hat is happen to be . . . extraterrestrial."

"Hmm, 'extraterrestrial' is more of a less specific term, but I don't care about that - and care to introduce me to your fellow professor?", Tannis turns to Port, as she takes a seat in front of them.

The Huntsman stands straight and proud of his occupation. "I am Professor Peter Port, former Huntsman and a big game hunter, I teach the students about Grimm Studies. Because how can they be Huntsmen and Huntresses without ever knowing what are they facing?"

Tannis merely nods at Port and smiles at the two, "Well, the Grimm is certainly quite the species, I've managed to kill a few in my spare time, they are plentiful, but they seem to vanish shortly as I was about to get some samples of them. Of course I try mitigate this by doing a dancing ritual that was taught to me by Maurice - and to no avail, it still remained the same."

"Uhh, who is this Maurice?", Oobleck tilts his head while taking out a spoon and stirs his coffee while looking at her.

"Oh, Maurice is an intellectual, but he's not human, he's a Saurian. Saurians are large, dinosaur like-creatures, easily identified by their two hind legs and violent behavior. Saurians are native to the harsh, swampy climate of the planet Eden-6. They live in both the open swamp land as well as closed off cave systems. Smaller species tend to hunt in packs, while the larger specimens prefer a more solitary life. I just happen to see Maurice on-board as a stowaway and made him a translation collar that lets him speak to us humans. But if you want further information about the Saurians, you can ask our own big game hunter - "

Port perks up with a smile, "You have a fellow big game hunter as well?! - How wonderful!"

Tannis clears her throat, " - Yes, Sir Alistair Hammerlock. He is one of the famed Big Game Hunters across the 6 galaxies, along with Xylourgos' another hunter Eista. Sir Hammerlock and I are quite the pair when it comes to discussing, discovering and debating the flora, fauna, or even anything that relates to the scientific studies of each planet. Although, he has his own time with the Jakobs Corporation, he has recently been wedded to the CEO of that company: Wainwright Jakobs. As for me . . . well, I just do what I do best, be a researcher, a leader and the one and only Eridian expert."

"Hoohohohoho - it seems I'd like to meet this 'Hammerlock' fellow one day. Perhaps I would like to hunt creatures beyond Remnant! Because . . . to be honest, hunting Grimm is slowly getting stale. But doctor, what are these, 'Eridians'? They sound elegant, but inscrutable.", Port leans on the table, eager to learn what are these mysterious creatures.

"Because they are! Little is known about the Eridians, although their importance as an ancient alien race is unquestionable. What is known is that they were first discovered on the planet Eridanus through their technology, had advanced to a technological state far superior to that of present humanity, and had maintained at least part of their society on Pandora. Not only did they create the Vaults, but they are also believed to be responsible for leaving the Guardians behind to protect them. The entire population of their homeworld, Nekrotafeyo, willingly acted as bait to lure the Destroyer into the Great Vault - Pandora itself. "

Oobleck cups his chin into thought, "Pandora, sounds like a dangerous planet."

"Oh it's more than just 'dangerous' - it's simply a death trap where anything is out to kill you anywhere at anytime - if you managed to crash land and still survive, there's a 100% guaranteed chance you will die by skags, spiderants, half-naked bandits and psychos, or even the plant life. The Eridians were smart, because they chose the one planet that will eat anyone and anything before their secrets are revealed. Besides, I can count the 1,000,000 ways to die in Pandora.", she raises her index finger in the air, but her smile is a bit unhinged, considering she has gone psychologically insane in Pandora after refusing to leave with her former company and left all on her own to find the legend of the Vault.

"Anyway, the Eridians maintained a "class-based society which is capable of both leadership and organized warfare". I managed to determine this by translating Eridian writings found in Eridian ruins using my translation program as can be heard in one of my data recorders in Rust Commons West. It does seem that they were well versed in weapons technology and design, capable of not only creating powerful weapons and systems but near invincible bioweapons as well . . ."

She then looks down, sitting properly somehow she shifts to a more stern voice. " . . . And these weapons can't destroy entire cities, but they are used to wipe out solar systems and Remnant is no exception. That is why I invest my entire life in researching Eridians, because one day the universe will cease to exist."

Both of the professors are suddenly speechless as they couldn't even think of any threat that is capable of creating bioweapons that can destroy the entire universe, and they have to admit, not even themselves or Ozpin can handle the sheer power of these Eridians for only an unhinged person can take on such a suicidal task.

Oobleck glances at Tannis, only to see an wide insane grin in front of him, Tannis' eyes are open wide and glowing. This is Tannis' other side, the Tannis that was formed by pure insanity and madness within Pandora. This is a woman that is eager to see results, even if it means losing her friends or herself in the process.

"We-Well that is . . . quite the information, Doctor Tannis. But, since you shared much about your . . . field, we'd like to share ours too.", Oobleck smiles at her, sipping on his coffee again.

Tannis snaps from her insane trance, and shakes her head quickly to shrug it off. "Oh my apologies there . . . I tend to be a bit loose when I love talking about my field of study. But yes, I am quite interested in Remnant, specifically the four kingdoms. One of the Vault Hunters, Flak, has talked to me about these kingdoms, however I cannot find the time to ask, so I'll take this as an opportunity to learn from the experts."

Oobleck clears his throat and adjusts his necktie, sitting properly. "Well, I've been through all of the four kingdoms and of course, did spent years of research in each kingdom. Where do you want to start?"

Tannis clasps her hands together, "Ah - let's start here, in Vale. Before we decided to make our presence known around here, Hammerlock and I saw the largest land mass in this planet."

"It's true. Vale is located on the northeastern end of Remnant's largest continent, Sanus. It is bordered to the northwest by shallow waters and to the southeast by steep mountains. These geographic features make Vale a place of relative safety. The Vale region is known to contain the City of Vale and several coastal cities, as well as Patch, a small island to the west. Here in Beacon Academy, is one of the four main Huntsman Academies of Remnant, located in the City of Vale, while Signal Academy is located on the island of Patch. Although it's been a long time since I've visited Patch."

"Hmmm - well it's a good thing that we chose to land on Vale and not on the other three kingdoms. In the other planets, the biggest area is always the dangerous or the most barren one, but Vale is a nice change for us.", Tannis smiles at him.

But Oobleck sighs, "Well, you are all lucky you never landed on Mistral. Mistral is located on the continent of Anima, the second-largest landmass in Remnant. Mistral controls the most territory of all four Kingdoms, encompassing a wide range of ecosystems and many diverse cultures. Some of the terrain includes steep wind-carved cliffs, where the region was first settled. The area to the west of Mistral is stated by . . . our friend away from Beacon . . . to be filled with swamps where small human villages are known to exist, though it can be difficult to traverse due to the presence of Grimm. So much like your Pandora, the swamps of Mistral is enough to hinder anyone and the chances of being killed by a Grimm is high."

"AND - most of my rarest kills of Grimm are found in Mistral! ~ Since the Grimm love the wilderness and their perfect hunting grounds, using the environment against us, although . . . they are not the only ones with that kind of intelligence ~ ", Port smirks at her, taking pride in his achievements.

"Well your least kills were the ones on Vacuo - that place is a desert wasteland. YOU almost got yourself killed by a giant worm-like Grimm!" Oobleck scowls at him.

"Yes I almost died . . . but the scars and the sheer long battle was blissful, just thinking about it right now makes me want to hunt down ANOTHER SAND WORM GRIMM! - HAHA! ~ "

" - Vacuo? A desert wasteland? Sounds like my kind of environment. Pandora is a barren wasteland too - a minor portion of the planet is diverse climate, but Pandora has always been famed for it's deserted and abandoned corporate ruins buried beneath the deserts. Perhaps you can tell me a thing or two about that certain kingdom."

"Uggh . . .Vacuo . . . It's located in the center of the vast and harsh desert on the western end of the continent of Sanus. Although once at the site of a hospitable oasis, many years of unchecked Human activity have changed its climate into a barren wasteland indistinguishable from the desert surrounding it. Vacuo has very few permanent settlements. Most villages are nomadic and are named after the tribe that originally settled them. When the tribe moves out, they take the settlement's name with them to reuse at their new location."

"Ahhh yes ~ if I were to pick a destination - Vacuo is the perfect place for me! Maybe I can recreate how my friends at the DAHL Corporation left me OH THE NOSTALGIA! - wait, no, I don't have any friends there - they were just hungry and greedy bastards. BUT, the Vacuo Kingdom is pretty interesting. Wait - if there is a kingdom that looks like Pandora - I wonder if there is a kingdom that resembles Promethea?"

"Promethea? Is that another wasteland planet?"

"Ahh Promethea, megapolitan city-planet, glimmering with new technology and an unsustainable amount of noodle shops. When Atlas first discovered a Vault on Promethea, it triggered a new golden age of expansion, research, and profit margins. Promethea is an urbanized planet and the headquarters of the ATLAS corporation. ATLAS claimed Promethea shortly after Eridian technology was found there, and reverse-engineered the tech for use in starships and weaponry. The planet fell on hard times after ATLAS stopped investing in its infrastructure due to declining profitability, and the situation worsened after ATLAS was defeated on Pandora and collapsed, with some claiming that life on Promethea was even harsher than on the notoriously anarchic Pandora. Recently, with ATLAS revitalized under the leadership of CEO Rhys Strongfork, the planet began to recover until the **Maliwan Corporation** launched an invasion. Thankfully, we were there to - "

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, I'm sorry for cutting you off but what did you mean, ATLAS Corporation? Are you saying there is another Atlas out there? And more militaristic and serious compared to ours?!", Oobleck asks her, confusion wrapped around his face.

Tannis nods, "Yes, unlike the Kingdom of Atlas or the Atlesian military. Our ATLAS, the ATLAS Corporation, is a massive interplanetary megacorporation involved in the development and manufacture of everything from spaceships and stardrives to small arms. And yes, they have far more tech than the military around here, but surprisngly enough, the ATLAS military, not to be confused with the Atlesian military, are far more noble and kind compared to their old and merciless counterparts several years ago, and it's all thanks to Rhys Strongfork, his soldiers are given proper breaks, his staff are weekly invited to their favorite theme parks, and he is loved by his people all over Promethea, I assume your Atlas cannot do this. Speaking about ATLAS, why don't we go to the last kingdom?"

"Oh right. Atlas is a large metropolitan city in the Kingdom of Atlas, sitting atop a floating island above the city of Mantle. The city is extremely advanced, with towers and skyscrapers of all sizes being visible at a distance, all seemingly with a blue color scheme to them. Atlas is seen as having platforms on the underside of the floating island and Atlas Academy is situated at the center of the city. There is a massive hill to one side of the city, atop of which is the Schnee Manor. To the bottom of the floating city, the district of Old Mantle is seen above a massive airport. Farmlands are seen to either side of Old Mantle. The entire city appears to be surrounded by a Hard-Light barrier that is being projected by forked spires stationed around the perimeter of the floating island. However, if one of the towers is disabled then the whole barrier would be disabled. Additionally, large train rails in the form of rings circling around allow for mass public transportation. The tracks are projected by large towers, using Hard-Light Dust. The Atlas Broadcast Network serves as a major news service for the Kingdom, frequently used in both Atlas itself and in Mantle. The Lance of Liberty, which uses the Lancer Grimm as their company's emblem, along with the Atlas Eye are two additional news services."

Tannis smiles as she stands up, "Oh, I can't wait to visit those cities, especially Mistral - perhaps I can collect a lot of plant samples there, or even better - the Faunus can give me a little bit of their DNA to - uhh - make some of my own research, maybe it will yield some results I can create to make Remnant even better, of course there is ethics - eugh - but I think there's always an agreement to that."

" - Ahh Doctor Tannis - ", she immediately turns to Oobleck. "Well, Ozpin and the staff have been talking about veteran Huntsmen helping the students of Beacon on field trips. I was hoping you'd participate with me to Mountain Glenn, although it'll be soon."

The scientist makes a confused expression, before shifting to a more realized expression. "Ooohhh - I get it, I get it. Sure thing, Doctor Oobleck. However I must console the Vault Hunters, and Sammy the Scroll, and ECHO-1 . . . and Greb the Toothbrush. Well then, until next time!", the scientist then dashes away.

Oobleck was about to say goodbye only for her to leave suddenly, he then hears a mocking chuckle from Port. "Smooth."

* * *

_**CRIMSON RAIDER BASE - BEACON ACADEMY** _

* * *

As Tannis arrives she then sees Flak cooking marinated chicken and making a delicious salad. She also glances at the living room to see Amara, Moze and Zane, watching the news.

But the robot sees the scientist and nods at her. " **Ahh, Tannis - you've arrived . . . and just in time for dinner as well. Everyone, gather around for dinner has been served.** ".

Tannis and the Vault Hunters gather around the table, with Flak already prepared the plates and utensils for them. Tannis then starts eating her delicious dinner. "So - I take you little gig has been wrought with fruitful socialization?", but then she sees the money on the couch, some of it has spread on the floor but not too messy. "Hmmm . . . and you all have the time to get a small job too. Where did you get that kind of money?", she turns to the Vault Hunters.

The four of them look at each other, unsure of what to say before Zane places down his spoon and fork, "Eh, we got a good friend and his little mute assistant, that paid them after doing a simple job. Turns out he was a good boyo." he lies about having ties with Roman Torchwick.

" **Yes, it is quite beneficial to all of us - considering we're short on Lien, we thought we'd get some on our own.** ", he takes his plate and puts down on the floor, watching as his three beasts gather around and share their food. Mr. Chew grabs a decent portion of it and jumps on Flak's lap, purring as Mr. Chew eats the chicken.

Moze lazily chops her chicken. "But uhh - to be honest, this planet's kinda dull. The mission was just hunting some Grimm, they just poofed into smoke and not even one of them can make a fucking dent on Iron Bear. I'd rather take on those Maliwan Reaper and Arbalests instead of those things."

Amara smiles, but her eyes avoid Tannis. "Well, I had some fun, and a lot of cash rewarded - It's a win either way."

"Okay then . . . Oh and I have something I'd like to as - ", suddenly her ECHO device rings as she takes it out from her coat pocket. She then answers it to reveal a voice of a familiar friend.

"Hey, amigos!", the sound of a drunk Truxican sniper echoes inside the device.

"MORDY!" the Vault Hunters say his name altogether in shock, except for Flak, but the robot is still glad that Mordecai is here with them despite in an ECHO.

The sniper lets out a laugh, it's been a while since they saw one of the first members of the first group that also formed the Crimson Raiders. "Hehehe, didn't expect me to call you guys from here, huh? Hammylock told me about you all holed up in that Remnant thing. How's it like there?"

Zane drinks his glass of water then places it on the ground, "Oh we're doin' just grand here, boyo! - As for this place? Eh, it's the uhze, the environment is like Eden-6 and Promethea had a baby, which is diverse. They got these creatures called 'Grimm' except they all have the exact color: black and with a skull mask."

"Hot damn, can't wait to hunt some of them down. Moxxi says it's gonna be good for my system, ever since Lilith well . . . died, things have been hard for everyone and especially the B-Team - "

Suddenly they heard a slam on the table, they all look at Tannis who frowns while looking down at her dinner. "For the last time, Lilith. Is. Not. Dead. She's out there. Somewhere. Trapped in some sort of stasis or some unexplainable force. It's not like her to disappear and die like that. At least Roland and Scooter died honorably. But I don't understand Lilith's . . . "

The Vault Hunters and Mordecai goes silent, and the entire dinner has a moment of silence before the ECHO device acts up.

Mordecai sighs and feeds Talon in the process with her favorite food. "Wish I had your attitude, Tannis. You've been there for us, even though you're batshit crazy. First was Roland, next was Scooter, and now it's Lilith and Maya - goddamn all those casualties took a toll on Brick and Tina as well, but they've already went through that cycle you told me about - uhh - what was that? Kuger's Robe? Kooler-Rob?"

Tannis massages her temples with both of her hands, "It's called the Kübler-Ross model - also known as the Five Stages of Grief."

"Yeaaaaah - that one, I say I'm currently on the . . . fourth stage, but . . . Tina and Brick always kept bringing me in their little games. Heh, it kinda helps.", Mordy takes another swig of his mild alcohol, at least not as strong as he drank before he had his previous bird, Bloodwing.

"So what's going on, Mordy? Why're you calling us?", Moze chews her gum casually while playing video games on her Scroll.

"I'm just here to give you an update - and it's a big one: Ellie and Hammerlock made use of the bio-fuel thing Ellie made and we had to run down almost an entire city worth of bandits on Pandora. At least it was easier since those Cringe Twins putas are both dead as hell, and the bandits are still cooped up in their shrine bases. Heh, fucking pendejos. But the good news is, the batteries are good enough for several back-and-forth trips between the six galaxies and Remnant. Also Hammerlock told me and Brick to come help you guys out, though Tina, she . . . she has her own ways of finding out the truth, it's best not to talk about it.", he winces.

"ROLL! FOR! INITIATIVE!", just then, the Vault Hunters heard the rolling of the dice.

Followed by Brick's jovial laughter, " THIS TAKES ME BACK! HAHAHAHAAAAA! TWEEEEEENTY! ~ I PUNCH THE DWARF KING AGAIN! - "

" - SERIOUSLY? YOU ALREADY PUNCHED THE DWARF KING SEVERAL TIMES NOW, WHAT IS YOUR BEEF WITH THE GODDAMN DWARF KING!? AND DON'T ANSWER JUST BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE SALVADOR!", they can hear Mordecai yelling in the distance, then comes back. "Sorry about that, heh."

Amara lets out a chuckle as she hears her friends having fun, "D'awww ~ I already miss you guys ~ And I miss my room too . . . By the way, where is Sir Hammerlock?",

The drunken sniper just shrugs his shoulders, "Eh he's currently in a meeting with Wainright Jakobs . . . and that new Atlas guy, Rhys Strongfork, both of them are interested ever since Hammerlock told them about Remnant and how it is unaffected by the other corporations. Fortunately Brick, Tina and I were playing hide-and-seek around the ship, and it just so happens that I heard a little bit of the meeting."

" **Hmmm, and what were they talking about, friend?** ", the Flak gently rubs Mr. Chew's face as the skag is sleeping on his lap.

"Rhys is rather nervous about the other serious Atlas counterpart there in Remnant and that he needs to make preparations for a 'serious' entrance, although I doubt it. Plus having 2 Atlases . . . Atlasi? Whatever, both of those Atlas in the same place and the same time is gonna be confusing. Least they don't share the same color palettes, that's a nightmare. - Oh! And I also heard Hammerlock and Wainwright that the Jakobs Corporation is - uhh - retiring? I don't know the word."

All five of them are confused by Mordecai's statement. "Retirement? There ain't no company that can retire - I worked for every bloke in all the six galaxies fer a long time and NONE of them decided to call it quits after they got everythin! - ", Zane crosses his arms while looking at the device.

" - No, I didn't mean that kind of thing, Wainwright said that he's tired of the 'Corporate Life' and just bring Jakobs Corporation on a more peaceful company, just selling other stuff besides ornate and intricate weapons. And that's the main reason why he's expanding the Jakobs Corporation in Remnant."

" **So both Jakobs and ATLAS are planning to arrive in Remnant. To be frank, we don't need to remain suspicious at them, it's clear that Wainwright and Rhys are both on our side. The only problem we need to look at is how Remnant will accept both of the corporations.** "

"I think so, but don't worry, amigos. But we'll head there once we're done packing our things here in Pandora, and maybe we can see what that planet has in store for - "

However his voice is cut off by a yelling Tina. "MORDY-MOM! - IT'S YOUR TURN! ROLL FOR INITIATIVE, DAMN IT! YOU'VE BEEN THAT THING EVER SINCE WE GOT HERE!"

"Tina! Sit cho' lil ass down, and how many times do I have to say it; Don't talk to your mother like that!"

"WHAT THE HELL, TINA!? - Sorry guys, gotta go. 'Til next time.", Mordecai ends the call.

Moze snickers as she finishes her dinner. "Ahhh, those guys never change ~ It's gonna be amazing to have them here. Remnant could use more . . . Je ne sais quoi - Heeeeey ~ I got that word, right! - HAH! Anyways, uhh, what were you going to ask Tannis?"

Tannis stares at her dinner a bit, before snapping back into reality and gets up from her seat. "Oh - uhm - I have lost my appetite, I need to go and educate myself about the four kingdoms, uhm, Flak, you can let your beasts eat the leftovers. - ", she then makes a dash to her room upstairs, but not before turning back to them one last time "Oh, and a word from Ozpin, it seems you four have been requested to be at the Courtyard tomorrow morning - and need to be early as possible. You are all going to train Team RWBY - soooo, good luck!", then finally heads in her room.

The four Vault Hunters glance at each other and they both had no reactions to it, maybe because they are too happy about their big-ass reward from Roman.


	10. A Montage (Part 1)

* * *

**_T_ ** **_EAM RWBY DORM - BEACON ACADEMY_ **

* * *

As the birds chirp with glee in Beacon Academy, the cliched sound of Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt - Morning Mood". The three girls are sleeping soundly as the bright sun rises on the horizon, and the blue skies roam the continent of Vale.

Weiss is the first one to open her eyes and listening to the sounds of the birds chirping as they are perched on a single branch. The ice queen smiles as she rests her chin on her palm, admiring the beauty of nature and the city of Vale in the distance. "Ahhh ~ it's the weekend, you know what this means, Weiss ~ "

But as she turns around she sees Ruby's crazed smile, just the sheer face of it is enough to stop the music humming in the ice queen's mind. Weiss sighs, "Uh oh. - "

Ruby starts blowing the entire room with an airhorn and yells at her sleeping teammates with enthusiasm "WAKE UP, EVERYONE! IT'S TIME FOR OUR WEEKEND TRAINING!"

"BUMBLEBEE, NO! - Oh, wait - we're training? But it's the weekend! Who'll be training with us at this time of the day? - ", Yang sighs as she gets up and stretches her body, still in her pajamas.

" - Oh my sweet dear sister, Yang, why question, when it's your luckiest day! BECAUSE WE ALL GET TO TRAIN AND SPAR WITH OUR ALIEN FRIENDS! OZPIN TOLD ME TO MEET WITH HIM AND THE VAULT HUNTERS AT THE COURTYARD!", Ruby squeals with glee as she starts running around the room.

Blake rubs the back of her head and gets up on her bed, "Well, I was supposed to read uhm - at the library, but training with them? Hmmm - ", she looks down and cups her chin. " - That'll be interesting, I wonder what they could teach us?"

Weiss frowns at her team, "Honestly, I expect them to teach us nothing but telling stories about how they fought with a foe with a silly name. And that experience is just useless! We are Huntresses, we belong here in Remnant, those aliens can't teach us anything! I could spent this entire weekend doing my own time such as enjoying tea on my own or go around shopping around Vale."

Ruby, already wrapped a towel around her, grabbing her clothes one one hand, while gently patting her head, "Awww come on, Weiss! - It'll be MORE FUN TOGETHER! - I mean, I get to be with be with Mr. Zane and his weird yet awesome team!"

Yang raises an eyebrow as she is already done bathing and is changing clothes, however she raises an eyebrow, a bit confused at Ruby. "You're going for the old man? - Ruby, that's kind of . . . weird for your choice."

Ruby stops as she is now holding Crescent Rose, and dressed in her signature outfit, "What? Why not? He's super fast like me! And he may let me borrow his cool looking weapons . . . they don't transform, but imagine holding one of those babies! LET ALONE FIRING IT!", she starts salivating from the guns the Vault Hunters use. "The Shredifier, Nemesis, I wonder if there are more!"

Blake is already changed, casually adjusting her bow. "Hmmm - well I can learn from Flak. He, or they, may be a sentient robot with a chance of killing tendencies but he can be a good teacher.", she then looks down with a frown. "As long as he can keep those things away from me . . . ", she shudders as she pictures Mr. Chew, Broodless and Meat-Thief.

Ruby checks her Scroll and immediately gasps in shock, "Well we all have one thing in common . . . WE'RE ALL LATE! IT'S ALREADY 9:20 AM, YOU DOLTS! - CATCH YA AT THE COURTYARD!", Ruby giggles before speeding out of the room. Both Yang and Blake look at each other for a moment and head out of the room.

"WAIT FOR - uuugggh - ", Weiss is about to change, but then stops in realization. "HEY! RUBY, YOU JUST COPIED MY LINE!"

* * *

Meanwhile at the hallway, Team JNPR is busy bringing their books from the Library, learning for their next lesson. Nora keeps talking to Pyrrha and Ren about she had this dream about riding a pony made out of diamonds, like REAL REAAAAL DIAMONDS. Oh and it craps guns, when fed with something shiny and purple.

Ever since Zane threatened Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL, things have been quite simple and easy for Jaune, the young knight just smiles as he carries his books, but his attention is cut short when a high-pitched voice calls upon him. "JAAAAAAAAUUUUUUNNNNNNNEEEEEEE! - LOOOOK OUUUT!"

Jaune looks to the source of the voice, only to be slammed by a red streak with a trail of roses, knocking both of them down, letting the books fall down on the floor.

Nora, Ren and Pyrrha are both shocked and immediately rushes to their friend's aid, except for one member. "RUUUBYYY! ~ ", Nora yells as she happily picks her up and immediately wraps her arms around her tightly, not noticing Ruby's dazed condition. "WHAT'S THE RUSH, FRIENDO!?"

Yang, Blake and Weiss arrive too, with Weiss trying to catch her breath, tired of catching up to her team hallway after hallway. Yang smiles at Team JNPR, with Jaune being helped up by Ren and Pyrrha, with Pyrrha soothing Jaune's bruise while the young knight is picking up his books. "We're just going to the Courtyard to train with the Vault Hunters. - "

" - YEAH, AND WE THOUGHT YOU'D COME WITH US!", Ruby perks up with a big smile.

Pyrrha's widen her eyes and feels genuinely curious, wanting to see how Amara can take on Yang or any of them. "That's . . . honestly amazing - Although we appreciate the offer but - "

" - We need to uhh, study, for the quizzes next week, you know how Professor Oobleck is very strict when it comes to scores.", Jaune chuckles nervously as he tries to lift the books again.

Ruby then slumps and pouts. "Awwww - we could've been training buddies! - Oh well, at least Ozpin says we get to do this every weekend so we might be together with the Vault Hunters! - "

"Or it could be just an alternation between us and Team JNPR. Who knows what Ozpin is thinking about us and them.", Blake chimes in as she crosses her arms. "Anyways, we gotta go to the Courtyard, see you guys around.", Ruby bids them goodbye before leaving another trail of roses for her teammates to catch up, the rest of Team RWBY follow suit.

Jaune smiles at them and lets out another sigh, Pyrrha then stands beside him. "What's the matter, Jaune?"

"Oh! - Uh - nothing, I just feel like it's just any ordinary day. And I kinda' like it.", Jaune turns to Pyrrha and genuinely feels happy.

* * *

_**COURTYARD - BEACON ACADEMY** _

* * *

Ozpin is standing in the middle of the Courtyard with his cane, suddenly he hears footsteps behind him, but these footsteps sounds like someone is wearing heels. The headmaster merely doesn't look back, "Is my coffee ready?"

"Of course, Port had to use it early because his own coffee machine broke down in his room, so he had to use the one in the Faculty Room.", Glynda gives his mug, while holding her own; which is a tea cup, although she's not a fan of coffee, she can drink it sometimes to keep herself awake in some days.

Ozpin faces her. "Really? Then I'll have to consider those new coffee machines the Atlesian R&D Department is making. I saw the sales by the way, and I saw how it works and it is divine. Works on both Coffee and Tea, let's hope the Lien is worth the machine.", he then drinks his coffee.

She sips her tea cup and turns to Ozpin, "Ozpin, should we te - ", yet before Glynda can complete her sentence, Ozpin raises his hand, telling her to stop - the Headmaster and the Headmistress are hearing loud yelling and footsteps in the distance.

"SEE?! THEY'RE HER - Wait . . . where are they?", Ruby scratches her head, but sees Ozpin and Glynda. "Uhh - Good Morning, Headmaster Ozpin, Headmistress Goodwitch!", she smiles as she salutes at them with a big smile on her face, then slowly shifts into a pout.

Weiss then arrives and breathes heavily, trying to catch her breath again. "So . . . sorry . . . for . . . being . . . late.", she slowly composes herself and clears her throat, standing upright in front of the two, they are then followed by Yang and Blake.

Ozpin smiles at the four girls. "Don't worry, this part of your lesson doesn't involve with the official Beacon Academy's main curriculum, but the reason why I choose your team and Team JNPR is because of your performance during the initiation, and we're merely here to enhance your performance for the next lessons, and of course, your abilities as Huntresses."

Glynda steps up and lets out a reluctant sigh, "While we're here, punctuality isn't necessary, but your presence is a must."

Ruby then raises her hand, "Uhh but the Huntsmen and Huntresses are supposed to be early and punctual in the face of danger."

"You are correct, Ms. Rose . . . however, the Vault Hunters are . . . different.", she frowns as she checks her watch again, and clicks her tongue in irritation. Ruby looks around to see Zane and the rest of his team are nowhere to be found.

So while they are waiting, Yang does some stretches again, this time on her arms - then followed by jabbing and punching in the air, trying to psyche herself up. "SO! - What is our first lesson about? I bet it's gonna be easy as cakewalk! ~ ", Yang smirks, feeling confident.

However, Yang's confidence stagnates as Glynda, the strict Headmistress, also smirks at Yang. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Ms. Xiao Long. If you want to face the Vault Hunters, specifically, Ms. Amara, then you are gravely mistaken. But, I suppose you can prove me wrong."

Ozpin nods in agreement, "Yes, Glynda and I have seen the spar between Ms. Nikos and Amara and although it was short, it gave us quite the information about Amara. I know you are the toughest on your team, but at least watch yourself, Ms. Xiao Long. As for your first lesson - ", he starts to pace around, looking at them sternly.

" - The lesson is all about basic combat WITHOUT using Semblances or Auras, but you can use their weapons. I was also informed by both Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck that Team JNPR is currently busy with their school work, your four will be assigned to your . . . counselors.", he turns to the Vault Hunters, arriving and with their weapons on their hands.

Ruby gasps and jumps in her place, waving at them. "GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!"

Zane takes a swig of ale from his trusty flask, and keeps it in his inner jacket pocket. "MORNIN' LASSES! And a good mornin' to ya' , Ozzy boyo!", Ozpin smiles at him and nods.

The old semi-retired hitman grins mischievously as he circles his neck, with Team RWBY hearing loud cracks from it, looks like the Operative is also ready to train them. He then checks his ECHO device to checks his gadgets; the Barrier Dome, the Digi-Clone, and the SNTL Drone.

He then holsters his ECHO device and turns to Glynda and like the usual the handsome bastard that he is, smirks kittenishly at her, "And lookin' good, Ms. Gorgeous! ~ You're glowin' today! Perhaps this is me lucky day? ~ ".

Glynda frowns at the old man, and slaps him in the face. "Don't. Call. Me. GORGEOUS! A-And I'm not glowing! I just wore my make-up before I came here just so - ", she then glances with a furious glare at Ozpin and Team RWBY, the latter holding their laughter. "ENOUGH! - Ozpin, would you mind if I - "

"Pfft - ", Ozpin looks away from Glynda, stifling a chuckle behind her back and almost chokes on his drink. But he remains in his usual stoic character and tries not to smile . . . and failing. "N-No need, Ms. Goodwitch, I'm sure Mr. Flynt d-didn't mean that at all.", he gently smacks his chest with the palm of his

"Ugh . . .", Glynda crosses her arms and looks away, not knowing she has a little bit of red on her face, but that will soon disappear as she sees the second Vault Hunter to arrive.

Moze lets out a loud yawn as she rubs her both of her eyes, "Ah geez, here we go again. I just fucking woke up and I spent all night fixing up Iron Bear after all that jazz last night - ". her outfit is a bit unkept and a bit messy looking, showing a little bit of skin on her upper torso, but then again, she's not part of Beacon and therefore she can just decided whether to fix herself up. Of all the Vault Hunters, she is the least eager to join, since she had some experience as a teacher or a 'Drill Sergeant' back at the Vladof Corporation.

But as the Team RWBY looks at her, they have a bit of mixed reactions; Blake just stared at the Gunner, her jaw opened in shock, Weiss just feels annoyed and mildly frustrated, as for the sisters, Yang slightly moves in front of Ruby, blocking Ruby's vision of Moze, who is trying to greet

Glynda raises an eyebrow at Moze, while Ozpin just looks away, fixing his vision on Team RWBY and his coffee. "Excuse me, but Moze - "

" - That's Ms. Andreyevna to you. And I know my outfit's messy, okay? - Cut me some damn slack.", the Gunner just adjusts her leather jacket, thus she looks appropriate, more or less.

On the other hand, Flak arrives with them, beside him are his little beasts. Mr. Chew rushes to Blake and barks happily at her, to which Blake quickly goes behind Yang with a mildly anxious face, she can feel it's glowing eyes staring at her soul, even though the skag is just looking at her, eager to make a friend, who may or may not be a Faunus.

Ruby immediately grabs Mr. Chew, the skag barks happily at her. "OH MY GOOOOOOSH! - IT LOOKS AND ACTS LIKE A WIDDLE PUPPY! ~ I WUVE HIM!", Mr. Chew opens his mouth and lets her see the inside of his face-mouth and its whip-like tongue. With a sudden change of mind, Ruby turns to her team with a slight fear. "IT'S TERRIFYINGLY ADORABLE! - KYAH!", she yelps as Mr. Chew climbs on Ruby's back.

But Flak's other pets arrive from other directions, Meat-Thief arrives via dropping down in front of all of them, grinning and snickering while holding a rocket launcher. Ruby crouches down to meet Meat-Thief, "Awww ~ hey there, little guy!".

The jabber then laughs at Ruby and raises his fist to her, expecting to do a fist-bump. Ruby looks at Yang, of which the blonde brawler just shrugs her shoulders, Ruby then goes back to Meat-Thief and the two fist-bumps, but Meat-Thief opens his fist to reveal an obnoxious scent with green smoke visible in the air.

The four girls doesn't notice it at first, until they smelled it and they instantly cover their nose and mouths. "GROSS!", they all yelled together.

Meat-Thief was just laughing his ass off, before something dragged him under the ground, and Broodless pops up out of nowhere, the spider-ant looks at them all and takes a step back. However Blake sees this as a cautious beast. She takes a step forward, "Uhh hello?".

Broodless lets out a brief screech, before smelling Blake and circles around her, before charging at her full speed only to stop when she smacks her head on Blake's leg, followed by the sound of low growling and Broodless gently brushing her elongated head. Blake is quivering in fear, while her teammates back off from Blake. "What the hell . . . is it doing?"

" **It means, she sees you as a friend. Spiderants are believed to have a highly structured society where each individual Spiderant works for the good of the colony. That also means they are disciplined and when to act with a friend or foe.** ", Flak pats on his waist to call on his beasts, Mr. Chew hopping off from Ruby, Meat-Thief bursting from the ground like a zombie, and Broodless moving away from Blake and curls beside her master.

Ozpin looks at the beasts, "Flak, if I may ask, is there a possibility that more of these . . . species will appear all over Remnant?"

" **It depends on the circumstances regarding the environment, climate, and the food source, if one of my beasts decides to find a mate or for Broodless' case, give birth, then there's a chance creatures other than the Grimm will surface, but I know a long shot when I see one.** "

"Really, that's what you said to Timothy before.", the Siren finally appears, wearing her usual outfit. They all glance at the Siren, wearing her usual outfit.

Yang finally approaches her, confidently placing her hands on her hips, even wearing the Ember Cecilia. "Finally, looks like we're gonna get that brawl between us! This'll be good!"

Amara merely laughs heartily at Yang and casually pats her on the back, but she casually just pats her hard, enough to let Yang almost lose her balance. "Ahh that's the spirit of a Huntress right there! - Hope you won't go easy."

Ozpin steps forward now that the Vault Hunters are now here, "Alright, since we're all together, it's time to start our training which will be held on Emerald Forest, you will take the shortest path marked on your Scrolls. But right now, I will assign your counselor. First off, Blake Belladona, you're with Flak."

Blake turns to Flak, of which the robot walks towards her and stops then does a formal bow. "It is a pleasure working with you, Ms. Belladona.", Mr. Chew pops up from Flak's backpack, panting happily at her.

Blake just smiles to go with the flow. "L-Likewise."

Ozpin turns to Weiss. "Weiss Schnee, you'll be assigned to Moze. And a note for the both of you, please don't cause a ruckus, I know you two are quite the opposite."

"Oh that's an understatement . . . ", Weiss scowls at Moze, chewing gum loudly and not paying attention to her.

The laidback soldier lazily turns her "The feeling's mutual, princess. At least you're not stuck with Mr. Suave over there.", she jerks her thumb to Zane, doing a finger gun expression plus a wink towards Glynda, the latter scoffs and rolls her eyes around.

Weiss shudders to herself but just frowns instead, "Fine, at least you're less than annoying, you're just lazy.",

Moze just gives her a deadpanned before popping another piece of gum to keep herself awake, "Ohohoho - we'll see who's gonna be running their mouth later, ice queen."

Ozpin shakes his head, predicting those two will quite cause destruction within the forest. And to be honest, he's right. Moze has always made excellent use of fire, especially one of her favored weapons to use on Iron Bear is the Salamander Flamethrowers, next to the Vanquisher Rocket Pods and the Miniguns. The Salamanders can also be switched whether to spew acid or fire, either way, both are deadlier when used by Moze, plus her attitude is just simple, she's laidback, calm - but sometimes she can be (no pun intended) hot-headed.

However, Weiss is the . . . (no pun intended again) polar opposite to the Gunner, as her name literally means 'ice' in German, she has her own Semblance which are Glyph that can be used in a variety of ways: create a slippery platform to skate on at high speed, generate midair platforms to manipulate her trajectory in the air and perform limited Time Dilation that can speed up actions, to name a few. She is irritable and confident in her abilities, though also acknowledges her deficiencies and the need to hone her skills further. Her confidence in her skills and intellect often comes off as arrogance to others. But look on the bright side, maybe pairing two girls, both with different elements, and different abilities won't be such a bad idea - and both girls might learn a thing or two.

Yang tweaks her weapon. "So does that mean I get to be with her?!", she grins at Ozpin.

He nods and turns to Amara, "Ms. Amara, will you agree to - "

The Siren brawler raises her hand, stopping him. "Say no more, Headmaster. I will do my best with Yang here. And you can just call me Amara, I'm in my late 20's and I'm nowhere near old nor show my last name like Moze."

Ozpin shrugs his shoulders, "Okay, now that leaves you and - "

Ruby jumps with glee, and holds her scythe close to her. "MR. FLYNT! - HOOORAAAY! ~ DO WE GET TO USE YOUR AWESOME GUNS?!"

Zane is quiet for a second before - "PAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! - ARE YA KIDDING ME?! I GOT SOME TOOLS FOR KILLING BLOOOOooooo - ", he slowly peers his eyes at Moze, Flak and Amara, glaring at him, not letting him spill the secret of killing people.

He snaps back to Ruby with his cheerful demeanor. " - ooooooOOOOKES THAT ARE THE GRIMM! Buuuut we're gonna have to whip ya into shape, the Ol' Flynt way like that one time I helped a young boyo on Gehenna who's down on his luck - I'll tell ya about it on the way there!"

Ruby does a proper salute. "Aye aye, Mr. Flynt!"

That greeting suddenly hits Zane in the back, he remembered the time he and his brothers, the Flynt Brothers, would cause chaos and mischief all over Pandora, Baron Flynt was the one being cold and rational leader making the toughest decisions , Captain Flynt (and yes that's his real name) was the biggest out of the three of them, and he really, REALLY loves fire and also big boats and of course, Zane would be the charming and cunning one of the brothers. Despite distancing himself away from them, he still considering them as his family.

But snapping away from his thoughts, he sees Ruby clinging on his arm, itching to train with the Operative. Just seeing Ruby's wide smile made Zane smile even more, thus getting a new idea.

Ozpin finally finishes is coffee and steps forward, "Good luck to you eight, I want you all to be report here at 12 PM in the afternoon here in the Courtyard, same spot as before. Clear?"

Both Team RWBY and the Vault Hunters turn to Ozpin and Glynda, the former with smiles and hope on their faces, while the latter are just monotone, except for Zane who is clearly light hearted than his teammates. "Crystal.",

* * *

_**EMERALD FOREST (FL4K VERSUS BLAKE)** _

* * *

Team RWBY and the Vault Hunters split up as they both head to separate directions; but for now, the first training session starts between Blake and Flak.

So far the trip has been uneventful, the two walk through the woods as they remain silent, Blake is rather nervous around the wildlife that Flak is accompanied by, but her attention is completely interrupted by the question Flak asks, " **So Blake, why do you hide your Faunus side from everyone else?** "

Blake pauses everything in total shock, her skin suddenly becomes pale, her limbs stiffen, an her eyes wide open as soon as she hears Flak's question. Not looking elsewhere but down, she gups nervously. " . . . You . . .You knew?"

The robot just stands there, stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turning towards her. " **It's not that hard to identify your feline traits.** "

Blake leans against a tree, while glaring at him, "Let me guess, some sort of scanner device?"

" **I am what you call an 'impartial observer', therefore, I see things most people can't. And because I'm equipped with all sorts of vision upgraded by Moze; Night-Vision, Thermal, Infrared, and X-Ray. But most of it is from your odd habits; Your bow twitches like ears every now and then, your posture alone indicates a feline stature and you are the only Human here that I've met with golden eyes like the average house cat also I saw you scratching the back of your ear . . . with your foot in the library -** "

Blake shakes her head frantically, and raises both of her hands to make him stop. " - HOLD UP! - Were you stalking me?! - "

" **\- I wasn't stalking you, you were at the right place at the wrong time.** ", the Beastmaster retorted, while watching Meat-Thief climb around the tall trees in the forest, swinging around the branches with glee as it reminded him of his home planet in Eden-6.

The cat Faunus frowns at him, squinting her eyes, "Did you tell anyone about this?"

Not wasting time talking, Flak continues to walk forward to find a proper field where they could train, using his tribal axe to chop the bushes. " **Though my colleagues aren't exactly that easy to fool, I do not think they will need the confirmation. But something tells me this frail disguise successfully fools your classmates. Besides, w** **hat benefits will I receive if I ever tell your true identity as a Faunus?** "

Blake shrugs and frowns whilst following him, and keeping his distance. "I don't know . . . maybe you just like seeing a Faunus suffer, like Velvet. - "

" **\- You are vehemently wrong. I see no benefit in leaking such a secret, however, I only seek what's functional and what is your advantage as a Huntress. Of course, I have learned about the Faunus War and how the Faunus have been treated badly by the humans, but that won't change if you won't learn and fight your way up and make big changes.** "

"Yeah, and people STILL treat Faunus differently then they do regular humans. We're not people to them! - "

" **-** **So you let it dictate your appearance.** "

"No.", she remained silent for a moment, "just a specific part of me. I'm sure you have tons of secrets."

" **I do. But even if I did tell you, the explanation alone would take over an approximation of 200 years.** "

"You're over 200 years old?!"

At this rate, being asked by a lot of question while trekking in the forest is going to be the end of him. " **No, but my story IS.** "

Blake hops over the medium sized rocks that are in the running stream of clean water, trying not to get herself wet while maintaining her balance. "You don't know what it's like though, to be tre-"

" **\- Treated differently because of WHAT you are and because of your physicality they don't bother to see WHO you are - I do - and I could go on about how I went through the same thing, about how it ultimately doesn't matter in the end, how Zane was treated even worse than I was.** ", once they are done passing the stream, they arrive in the field.

Flak goes to the center of it and squats down. " **But today's lesson isn't about dealing with bigotry, a simple that thing that can cloud you from your real goals, today's lesson is about something more . . . dangerous.** " the Beastmaster pats the side of his leg, calling Mr. Chew, Broodless and Meat-Thief, all of three of them gathering around him.

" **For now you'll be facing Mr. Chew, come here boy.** ", he claps his hands twice as the skag rushes to Flak and licks his face with his tongue.

She squints her eyes a bit at Mr. Chew "Hmmm - but how does Mr. Chew fits into this lesson, no offense but, he's pretty small compared to me."

Flak lets out a dark chuckle as he stands up. " **Oh - no need to worry, I have just the solution for that.** ", he raises his robot hand, his palm facing upward, and then a strange orb starts to glow bright yellow, followed by large sparks of electricity coursing through Flak, and at the same time a massive bright yellow vortex mixed with the same violent cackling of electricity shows up in front of them.

And what happened after that is a flash of light engulfing them both, Blake hastily covers her eyes with her arms looking away from the light, but it then slowly dissipates. She sees Flak, kneeling down one knee, as if he's starting to rust or his batteries are slowly depleting, the latter is mostly correct, but that's not the important part.

"What . . . happened?", she then feels the ground shaking around her. Was it the Grimm? No, they are in the safe spot in the Emerald Forest, that doesn't make any sense.

Then a large shadow looms over Blake, only for her to look behind her with a dreadful face, (like every victim in a horror movie) and shrieks while backing off with her eyes widened at the sheer size of the once little Mr. Chew, with her Faunus' enhanced fight-or-flight response, she takes out Gambol Shroud straight away and aims at the Giant Mr. Chew. "H-HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! - WH-WHY IS THAT THING SO BIG!?", if Yang was here, she would've said something inappropriate.

Flak lets out a hard cough, before getting up. " **I merely used a little bit of my life energy inside my core, and transfer it to my beasts, turning them bigger and better. It feels taxing sometimes, but I use it when the need arises. However, the duration of this power can only be temporary ranging from several minutes - to a few hours . . . though I can just release the energy away, letting it go to waste. Now . . .** ", he extends his hand to Blake. " **Ready?** "

Giant Mr. Chew starts barking happily and hopping around his master, causing minor earthquakes around them but not too far to disrupt their other friends busy with their own training.

" **Easy boy.** ", Flak chuckles as he gently pets the giant Mr. Chew purrs and stands down on the ground beside him.

"I'm curious as to where did Mr. Chew live and what are his traits? Just to know what I'm dealing with here.", Blake takes several steps back away from Flak and Mr. Chew, she is not supposed to be scared by an alien dog like this, she is able to face Grimm Beowulves and Nevermores without a scratch and have the confidence to hunt them down, but why is she nervous now?

Flak opens his gigantic face-mouth and checks his sharp teeth. " **Mr. Chew and his species called 'Skags', live in the desolate world of Pandora, a barren planet** **that is well known for crazed cannibalistic psychos and ravenous monsters.** **They** **are large, dog-like creatures** **, hungry and they 'breed like rabbits' as the humans say. They are** **easily identified and known by their strong bony armor plates, aggressive behavior, and distinctive three-jawed mouths. Which is why it is perfect for your training today which is all about Direct Confrontation. Your task is simple - "**

Flak turn to Blake with Mr. Chew ready to fight, growling and barking at the Faunus Huntress. " **\- Survive until my Gamma Burst expires, then Mr. Chew will reduce back to his original size. Ready?** "

Since she is going to face a bigger version of Mr. Chew, she's doesn't even have the necessary equipment to fight a 'skag' let alone THIS BIG. But as a Huntress, it is her duty to face whatever adversity she's facing.

Flak squints his eyes and swipes his hand forward, commanding the giant Mr. Chew to jump at Blake, trying to pounce down her.

Blake is ready to dodge but she can't move, "What the?! - ", she looks down to see her legs already wrapped up with some sort of silk webbing.

Broodless burrows behind Flak, the one responsible for causing it. " **Surprising how your Faunus senses didn't detect that.** ", he scoffs while he sits down and observe.

She immediately cuts herself free and narrowly dodges Mr. Chew's pounce. "Ugh - at least it's doable. The attack pattern is exactly akin to Beowulves.".

Mr. Chew growls again and leaps at her at great heights, using its claws to grab her, but Blake's supreme agility is capable of dodging every single swipe and slash from the giant skag.

Blake goes up close to Mr. Chew's belly, and stabs it with Gambol Shroud's blade, successfully penetrating the armor below. She smirks continues to stab Mr. Chew's belly, but her attacks can only go so far as Mr. Chew uses his whip-like tongue to swat Blake away with heavy force.

"Heh, I know the weakness now, it's the belly. He has less armor below, just gotta get close to him.", Blake readies herself again.

" **Hmmm - I wouldn't be so sure about that.** ", the robot confidently snaps his fingers, ordering Mr. Chew to growl at Blake and starts spitting corrosive balls at her in quick succession.

"WAIT - IT SPITS!?", she narrowly dodges a corrosive spitball, burning her leg a bit. "ARGH! - Damn it!", she tries to rip some of her clothing to cover the pain up, yet there's no to rest, she looks up to see the incoming corrosive balls and pulls herself together.

She begins dodging the balls and open fires at Mr. Chew, shooting Gambol Shroud, while using the grapple and hook a solid tree to maneuver her way out of harm, similar to a kusarigama.

" **Interesting. You know what to do, boy.** ", Flak merely says to himself, before noticing the wire through Mr. Chew's eyes. Mr. Chew also sees the wire and bites right off the tree, then tugs the ribbon to random opposite direction, swinging Blake around and losing her control

"HEY, THAT'S NOT! - ", sending Blake flying across the trees, and eventually crashing against a large boulder on her back. She lets out a pained groan, and falls down on the ground. She grits her teeth, trying to force herself in getting up, but suddenly, she hears the distant growl of Mr. Chew, trying to hunt her down.

"Crap . . ", The Faunus Huntress gets up on her feet frantically, and drops Gambol Shroud since she doesn't have enough time to reel it back in. around the trees, circling around Mr. Chew as he starts searching and smelling for her scent.

" **Using the environment . . . how typical.** ", Flak, who is far away from them, squatting down and closes his eyes, knowing where Blake is and raises his right hand, ordering another beast besides Broodless to make it interesting.

Blake then hops around the trees to escape from Mr. Chew to gain a height advantage quietly as a cat. But for some reason, Blake is using her two feet instead of hopping branch after branch with on all fours.

Even though she left her weapon on the ground earlier, thankfully she has the sheath on her waist. "Good thing I still got this.", she takes out her secondary weapon and keeps her eyes on the skag.

Unfortunately her Faunus senses are unable to sense Meat-Thief, hanging upside-down and staying quiet. The mischievous jabber, digistructs its trusty baseball bat striking her on the back of her head, knocking her down on the ground without hesitation. "AGH! - "

Mr. Chew hears the sound of leaves rustling followed by a loud thud from Blake's body landing on the ground.

Blake's vision is all hazy and blurry as she raises her face from the ground, the impact from that baseball bat has given her quite the daze, but within her blurred senses, she can hear the sounds of distant footsteps approaching her location, clearly she can feel it due to the vibrations on the ground. " - For Oum's sake . . . aggh - it hurts."

While struggling to get herself up, she then sees Mr. Chew at a distance, but in front of her. The giant skag growls lowly before roaring and charging at her like a raging Grimm.

With her pistol not in her person, she frowns at the impending beast, "Tch - FINE! - COME GET ME THEN!", Blake yells as she charges with her sheath transforming into a katana and leaps at Mr. Chew, the giant skag opening its mouth. Blake doesn't care if she gets eaten by this thing, she can just kill this thing from the inside.

Yet again, she remembered Flak said that the he can control the Gamma Burst and turn it off by himself. Right now in slow motion, she can see Mr. Chew getting smaller and smaller, reverting back to his original form.

But what it's in front of her is Broodless once again, making an appearance from the ground, jumping up to Blake's height, and then does a clean headbutt against the Huntress using its elongated (BUT ARMORED) head, sending her flying back towards Flak.

Blake eventually lands on the ground, face-first, and stops just in front of the Beastmaster, who is all calm and slowly opens his eye seeing her battered face and body. " **Hmm, took you long enough . . .** "

Blake lets out a pained groan while sitting on the ground, placing her hand on the back of her head, she can feel the wound and finds blood on her hands, her blood. "Wha - What am I doing wrong? Your beasts are all over the damn place."

Flak pats his waist, calling all of his beasts to him, while squatting on the ground, placing his hand on her shoulder. " **You fight your instincts, its evolutionary advantage gives you luxuries your opponents lack, even when Sparring you must give as much as you can afford. If there's anything I learned from the constant wars you lifeforms go on about -** ".

He brings an ANSHIN Med-Hypo from his ECHO device, digistructing in front of them. Flak then gently injects her shoulder, letting the artificial blood makes its way inside her body and heals her systems overall. Blake isn't a fan of needles, but since " **\- Is that there ARE no rules. If you can see in the dark, block out the light. If you can hear things others can't, act on those sounds . . . I can tell you're holding back and resisting your urges, maybe because of your emotional problems regarding your -** "

" - Enough! - I get it!", Blake looks down and sighs, feeling much better, but she takes Flak's words to heart. She does need to fight dirty, and if that means becoming a Huntress together with team, then that works for her. Blake immediately glances at Flak, "Uhhm - I'm sorry I lashed out."

" **It's part of your training to feel anger. I understand, for now though, you must rest and after that - we go for Round Two.** ", Mr. Chew slowly makes his way in front of Blake, bringing her Gambol Shroud. The skag then places the weapon in front of her, and letting out a whimper. " **And it seems he's asking you for forgiveness.** "

She picks up her Gambol Shroud, covered in skag saliva. "Euuugh - ", she stares at the sad skag for a brief moment, before smiling sheepishly at Mr. Chew.

* * *

_**(MOZE VERSUS WEISS)** _

* * *

But one pair aren't exactly motivated to focus on training. On the rocky landscape just yards away from their friends, Weiss is pacing around, "Ughh! - Can you please stop playing that game?! - I can't focus at all and I can't find anything else to properly sit on! - ALL OF THIS ARE JUST ROUGH ROCKS!", she yells while flailing her arms in the air.

Her counterpart isn't as hot-headed as the princess, in any case, she's just having a good time despite sitting on an uneven rock that can break her back in several hours. "Hmmm - maybe if I can put another block here, it'll match everything in one move . . . ", Moze speaks to herself, and ignores Weiss, and just plays her game on her ECHO device.

"You're supposed to be the one training me! Not using this time to slack off! - ", Weiss continues to yell at her.

Moze fists bumps in the air, then goes back to playing her game. " - Nice, finally got the BFG. That Cyber Demon's TOAST! - I'll fucking beat that old man's high score with this kind of gun ~ ", she licks her lips as she kills the demons in her device.

"Are you SERIOUSLY playing a game during training?"

"Yeah, it's called having fun-try it sometime.", she takes out a piece of neatly wrapped gum while playing with her other hand. She removes the wrapper and tosses the gum in the air, and flawlessly catches it with her mouth without looking at the gum.

"ARGH! - THAT'S IT!", Weiss just leans and sneers at the Soldier, she eventually approaches her and attempts to swat the clunky device from her hand. But just as she reach for it, Moze placed her hand on Weiss's forehead and kept her at arms length, she continued playing while Weiss swung her arms willy-nilly at her.

"Ugggh, fucking kids.", she groans and spoke like pissed off grandma, and eventually Moze wanted to use both of her hands again and gave a huge shove against her, knocking her to the ground on her back. "Can you not? I'm kind of busy here.", Moze looks at her with a lazy look.

Weiss gets up and dusted her dress as she exclaimed her frustration. "Do you take ANYTHING Seriously!? You are THE worst teacher I've ever had."

Moze clicks her tongue in frustration, then turns off her ECHO device, turning to Weiss, getting the proper attention she deserves. "Sorry Elsa, I didn't join the Ursa Corps to be a teacher, - well that used to be my job with the greenies, but I joined to kill a bunch of dudes with a giant ass mech."

"You also need to keep your profanities in check! - "

Moze does a mockery of Ruby's puppy eyes, trying to act all adorable, complete with a high-pitched adorable voice. "Or what, I'm gonna hurt someone's feewings? ~ ", then shifts to her original tone. "Tch, tell ya what, next time I shoot a guy's kneecaps like they're beer cans, I'll try not to call him a dumb fuck afterwards. Deal? Deal."

Weiss growls at her and tries to intimidate her, only for her to be shoved back again by the Gunner despite slightly shorter than her. "OW! - HEY, OZPIN TOLD YOU TO TRAIN ME! - CAN YOU AT LEAST TAKE EVERYTHING SERIOUSLY?!"

"Fuck off, princess. You love running your mouth, don't you?", she then gets up from the rock and stands in front of her. At first, Weiss frowns at her, still pissed off.

But the Ice Princess still presses on, " - Oh, I WILL run my mouth if you keep slac - AAAAH! - ", But without a warning, Moze slaps her in the face, knocking her down on the ground. Just one hard slap and now she's fallen over.

On the ground, Weiss snaps at her, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!?"

Moze points at her lazily, with a bored look on her face. "You. You are the problem.", she then waves her hands around. "I get that you're a heir to some company and crap - "

Then stands over, looking down at her. " - But you literally fight like someone's supposed to save you rather than you win it on your own. You need to change your stance and realize that you don't need to look good in front of your enemy, you need to actually take 'em down. When was the last fight you won like that?"

Weiss does a scowl at Moze, feeling viscerally pissed at her, she stands up and brushes off the dirt on her dress. "I - . . . erm.", but she can't place a finger what she meant.

Moze nods and smirks smugly at her. "Exactly. Honestly this is gonna be waaay worse than my other students that were under me - AND THEY CAN TAKE FAR WORSE SLAPS THAN YOUR PRISSY ASS!"

"You know, you are a sorry excuse of a teacher. Honestly, what do I gain from learning from you?"

Moze crosses her arms, "Well, you can learn how not to be a b*** and take everything like a real woman. Or do what you do best: Be a rich b*** forever. Because here's the truth; you don't last long. Period. I've seen girls more richer and more bitchier - than you!"

Weiss gets up swings her hand to slap her back, but the Gunner blocks it without even looking and outright slaps her again, putting her down. "We won't train properly if you get up and stay a cool head.", she clenches the ground, already pissed and gets back up again, this time, throwing a punch.

Moze casually dodges it and slaps her again, three times in a row, she can see the redness on Weiss' cheek, swelling from the pain. "Ooohh ~ looks like you're about to cry - Are you gonna cry? ~ Here let me help you, 'princess'. ". she offers her hand.

Weiss just swats it away, stands as she dusts herself off again and walks away. She turns her back on Moze, "Hmph - I'm going to ask Ozpin to find me a better teacher." and then mutters to herself, "I don't know why you just can't train me.", but her self comment was heard and replied to by the Gunner.

Moze just looks elsewhere, chewing her cherry-flavored gum. "Because you don't WANT to train. - "

Weiss turns around straight away. "I beg your pardon? I'm not the one - "

She digistructs Iron Bear, and takes a seat in the cockpit, while keeping the cover open, letting the fresh air of the planet flow inside the mech. " - Willing to listen? Yeah, I know the type . . . I had a little runt like you before, guy's name was Tony, except he was from the Bronx of Eden-4 and had a habit of stealing, Vladof caught him and he was entrusted to me to be trained when he accepted the offer to join the Ursa Corps. He was a good kid, fought like hell and was quirky as you could get, but he's also a klutz, sound familiar?"

Weiss frowns as she thinks of Ruby, and merely stares at her. Moze assuming she already got the picture, goes on.

"I trained him but he just wouldn't listen, I thought maybe I was too hard on him, that it was just one more mission with my OG Ursa Corps squad and that all I had to do was just watch out for him until it was over . . . I thought we'd could just blaze through Darzaran Bay if I did the effort."

"And? What happened to him? Did his training paid off?"

"A body already half crushed by a burning building and being burned alive by the enemy in front of your friends doesn't really count as 'paid off', WOULDN'T IT?!", Weiss suddenly steps back as she was about to retort to her, however, knowing that boy was young as her and Ruby, died helplessly in battle. She just couldn't shake off how terrifying it must be.

Moze sighs as she opens a small compartment filled with cans of root beers. She takes one and starts chugging it, drowning the dying screams of her squad and the recruits they brought with them, and what worse, she was the leader of their group, and she completely blames herself for it. "I had to watch him burn as he cried for help, and along were the others, after that . . . I was the only one left."

Weiss was shocked at first, but kept a straight face as she tried to defend her reasoning for being the way she was, she didn't know why, she just felt like she needed to defend herself to this person. "Look, I'm sorry about whatever happened in your past, but I didn't mean to insult you, I just wanted to train so I can be a better Huntress - but I can't learn anything if you're gonna be this way! Bring back your old self."

However the Gunner just looks down, "You know I can't do that . . . "

She only glances at her shoulder, "Then we have nothing to talk about. Good day.", then leaves the scene.

Moze hops out of the mech. " HEY! We're not done here, you wanna get this over with or what!?"

The princess turns to the Mech with a frustrated expression. "Make me!", then continues to walk away.

* * *

Animosity fills the Gunner's eyes under her military helmet, "Shouldn't have said that, princess.", the soldier hops back on Iron Bear, then closing the cockpit door on her, and presses a button, letting Iron Bear digistruct a Bear Claw and launches the pneumatic fist towards Weiss, grabbing the back collar of her dress and instantly pulling her back towards the mech.

Weiss is struggling to free herself from the giant metal hand. "ARGH! - LET GO OF ME!".

"See? - You just keep yappin' and yappin' without using your weapon! Honestly, it's common fucking sense already!", Moze uses the microphone within Iron Bear to respond to Weiss.

Weiss brings out Myrtenaster and slices off a small piece of her collar to free herself and leaps back from the Iron Bear and readies herself, aiming the rapier at the mech, "You'll pay for that, you dolt! - "

Inside the cockpit, the Gunner smirks as she switches both of her weapons to Vanquisher Rocket Pods, "Oooo ~ she looks pissed.", the mech then locks on Weiss and fires all rockets from it's disposal, then starts chambering rockets to ready for another salvo.

Weiss uses her Myrtenaster to rotate and select the Dust fitting for this situation, in this case, she uses the Hard-Light Dust to create an invisible barrier around her. "Wait for it . . . "

Once one of the rocket hit the barrier, suddenly the barrier bursts into a big bright blue shockwave, striking all the rockets incoming towards her in one go.

"WOAH! - That was a weird one.", Moze whistles at Weiss power, knowing it's coming from her weapon specifically those glowing crystals in a revolving-like chamber. "Hmm, let's see how long you can handle me and Iron Bear ~ ", she locks on Weiss again and fires all of the rockets again, while charging straight at her.

Weiss groans and rolls her eyes around, reloads her weapon to a Yellow Dust then casts a glyph, creating a time dilation to slow down the rocket's trajectory.

And showing off her Yellow Dust's power, Moze is flabbergasted by the time dilation power she has, but then again. Time hasn't stopped for her and Iron Bear yet, and continues to charge at the princess.

"Too easy.", she reloads it again to a Blue Dust, and shoots large ice crystal at the rockets with accuracy, exploding every single rocket in front of her, but the sheer size of the rockets are enough to cause a large field of black smoke around her.

But amidst the smoke, Iron Bear's Bear Fist appears in a surprise attack, "SURPRISE!", with Moze yelling in the mech, and straight up punches Weiss.

The princess felt the sharp pain from the mech's punch, but she crashes against a large wall, letting pain coursing around her body.

While Weiss is getting up, Moze inside the cockpit is taking notes: Weiss utilizes raw Dust in combat. Her preferred method is to insert vials of powdered Dust into Myrtenaster's revolving chamber. With a pull of the trigger, she can release Dust onto Myrtenaster blade, or even combine Dust with her Semblance.

Myrtenaster is shown to contain yellow, blue, red, cyan, purple, and white Dust. So far, she only knows the Yellow Dust, which can result in a time dilation glyph, thus she saw those up its target's movements. Cyan Dust, which can create an invisible barrier that gives off light blue shockwaves upon being struck. and Blue Dust she can mainly use the element Ice to her advantage such as ice crystals as projectiles, perhaps she can use it to create barriers or passageways to maneuver out of harm's way, that leaves 3 more undiscovered crystal thingies (Dust) for Moze to know, luckily she got herself a plan to counter all of that.

Weiss growls at the giant mech and her power needs to be on par with Moze's mech. So she reloads to her Red Dust and summons large fiery glyphs which Moze can already hint it's gonna be fire, if the mech is capable of resisting massive physical damage perhaps she can melt some of it's armor too. "I'LL MELT YOUR MECH DOWN IF I HAVE TO!", she then points her rapier AT THE MECH, firing equally large fireballs at Iron Bear.

"Using fire against fire, huh? Bad idea ~ ", she then changes the weapons to Miniguns, ready and fully armed with cryogenic rounds on all four of these killing machines. She then starts shooting down the fireballs as much as she can, but some of the fireballs are too hot too extinguish thus burning some of Iron Bear's limbs.

Unexpectedly for Moze, Iron Bear took quite the damage despite fire doesn't usually work for metal, corrosion does. "Ah crap - ", to make matters worse, her Miniguns fired so much, that both guns have already temporarily powered down due to being overheated.

"NOW'S MY CHANCE!", she smirks as she reloads her Red Dust to slice off the medium-sized rocks behind her, then loads up one of the Dusts that Moze hasn't been able to figure out yet: Purple Dust and Weiss is finally using Gravity against her opponent.

The disjointed pointed rocks slowly float in the air behind her and aims at Iron Bear. With a focused mind, Weiss aims points her rapier at Iron Bear again, shooting her massive projectiles towards them.

She switches back to her Vanquisher Rocket Pods and locks on the projectiles quickly and fires half of the amount, saving the rest for later. "This is gonna fucking hurt! - NGH!", like playing Darts, Iron Bear is damaged by multiple pointy rocks, at the front armor. Some of it bounced off but made big dents, while a good few managed to pierce through but not even close to Moze who is unfazed by it's breach. Sparks fly inside the cockpit, but Moze has already been in this situation before and she knows what to do at times like this. "Hoooo ~ guess it's to fight dirty."

On the outside, Weiss stands down and walks to the Iron Bear mech, assuming Moze is already given up and stands down. "Looks like I already won, honestly I wasn't expecting to win ~ ", she smirks at the downed mech.

But Weiss hears Moze's chuckling from the inside. "I don't know - it seems I'm on the winning side here - and you haven't met Iron Bear's secret weapon yet ~ "

She puts her hands on her waist, raising an eyebrow at the mech, "Oh really? And what is it? A giant laser beam? A swarm of robots? - "

Eventually the mech's cockpit letting out a burst of thick smoke from the inside opens revealing Moze aiming at Weiss with a Torgue Rocket Launcher, but an ordinary one, not a Legendary Rocket Launcher because none of her team wishes to bring that kind of overpowered firepower . . . yet.

Moze grins widely as she pulls the trigger, " - Me. - ", then fires a high-explosive rocket on the ground between Weiss feet, knocking her away a few feet and crashing down in a pile of rocks. " - Ahhh ~ when will that girl ever learn; Never check your enemies up close.", the Gunner spoke to herself as she hops out of Iron Bear, and sighs and chuckle. "Looks like I'll have to really fix you up, big gu - ", but she suddenly hears rumbling around her, it couldn't be Flak's pet, they are way too far from their position.

She looks up in the mountains far from them and spots massive boulders rolling down in the distance, heading towards the princess unconscious body. " - SHIT! WEISS!", she then hops in her mech again. "Come on Iron Bear! - MOVE!", she uses Iron Bear's main thruster to kick it into Overdrive, and launches itself towards her at high speed.

Weiss slowly wakes by a large crash above her and opens her eyes to see Moze opening the cockpit and quickly grabbing her and taking her inside the cockpit, afterwards her vision starts to go black followed by her senses.

* * *

_**SEVERAL MINUTES LATER . . .** _

* * *

"Ughh - what happened?", Weiss slowly wakes up as she finds herself inside Iron Bear's cockpit, already opened to find themselves in a pile of destroyed rocks, beside her is the Gunner, playing video games again like nothing happened.

"You fainted after I blew you up. Then a rockslide came in and almost buried you alive, but I got some Fuel from Iron Bear to shove you in the cockpit with me. Had to play on my ECHO while Iron Bear covered both of us. It was neat.", the Gunner casually summed the entire thing while staring at her screen.

Weiss frowns as she is lost the battle and was even rescued by a young woman not only she did it without using some sort of Semblance nor Aura, but by using just a massive mech with an insurmountable amount of weapons to counter every attack she has which is also a variety of elemental Dust.

"Your moves back there, they remind me of another rich bitch, Aurelia Hammerlock, a heiress who saw herself as mightier than others and she even had the same powers as you, princess.", She smirks at Weiss, as she tosses her a can of root beer, Weiss reads the can and sees the word 'Root Beer', she purses her lips and frowns but Moze sees her face. "Relax, it's not alcohol."

Weiss opens a the can through the Easy Open label, "You mean like my Semblance and my weapon?"

Moze shakes her head. "A bit close. Looked into her bio a bit, she used to be an 'exorbitantly wealthy socialite', she has taken up the hobby of hunting, traveling the galaxy to seek dangerous creatures to kill as well as making her brother's life even more miserable. That bitch actually won more fights and was FOUR times your age and experienced, almost killed Zane, but he was cocky as horseshit. . . Wanna know how she died?"

As much as Weiss doesn't want to know more of this, this Aurelia Hammerlock is just like her, and wonders what happened to her. "How?"

She digistructs a shotgun on the palm of her hands. Then tosses it to Weiss, of the princess caught it with one hand, "I shot her in her face with that, it's call 'The Hellwalker,' manufactured by the family-oriented Jakobs Corporation, after she tried to kill her brother's fiancé. She put up quite a fight, just like you did."

Weiss takes a sip of the root beer and immediately recoils from the weird taste. She then places the can down and examines the double-barreled shotgun. In spite of this simple looking weapon, she is surprisingly interested at the ornate and intricate designs etched onto the gun, and how pristine it is.

Moze continues on while drinking her root beer, then crushes it with her bare hand, then throws it elsewhere out of the mech, then grabs another can and opens it. "I don't know WHAT you were taught, but here's what I was taught: War is like the rest of the Universe. It. Doesn't. Fucking. Care about you, your story, your money, your title, your passion, or your innocence.", Weiss looks at her with a frown, but in her mind, she makes a good point. Weiss has always been the first one to put down, somehow it's in her nature, but her arrogance has just led her astray.

But the Gunner stares sternly at her, because inside of that laidback, nonchalant attitude is a young brave, reckless girl who survived Death's Door with her sheer will and high tolerance for pain but had to live so she can suffer her past over and over again, enduring the trauma every day and night so she doesn't go insane like those psychos back on Pandora.

"If you don't knuckle down, fight back and show some goddamn humility and effort, then you'll end up just like them. So before you pick up a gun, grab a knife or ANYTHING - you're going to give me your undivided attention and full devotion to being better than ever because I'm not having another Darzaran Bay, I can't lose anyone - if I have anything to say about it . . . you get me?"

Weiss pinches the bridge of her nose and then empties the entire can, then crushes it with her rapier. The princess slowly turns to her, "You got another one of those horrendous drink?"

"One finely aged cask of Whoop-Ass comin' right up ~ ", Moze smiles mischievously as she tosses a fresh can of root beer at Weiss.


	11. A Montage (Part 2)

* * *

_**CHAPTER 10: A Montage (PART 2)** _

* * *

_**EMERALD FOREST (YANG VS AMARA)** _

* * *

Yang stops on a stump of a dead Grimm Beowulf as she takes a deep breath and exhales through her nose, smiling proudly as she looks around to see more Grimm Beowulves crowding around Yang.

The brawler Huntress slams her fists together, sparking flames on her Ember Celica. "OH, YOU WANT SOME TOO?!", she charges at the Grimm Beowulves and shoots a couple of Grimm down with her shotgun gauntlets, then goes up close to them and punches more Beowulves in the face.

Yang dodges the Beowulves' attacks with agility and retaliates by punching them dead, she keeps doing this until the last Beowulf is down.

Once Yang takes a breather, a Beowulf sneaks up behind Yang only to be lifted in mid-air and surrounded by a purple bubble and is seemingly lifted by a giant blue arm, with the palm of its hand holding the base of the bubble.

Yang immediately steps back and readies to do a final strike at the Grimm, but another giant arm slams it's fist down on the Grimm, like a giant mallet whacking an equally giant mole, squashing the Beowulf dead.

Amara whistles as she brushes off the leaves that's hiding her. "Uggh - every time we go deeper, the bushes are getting thicker."

"That's what she said - "

Amara turns to Yang, with a raised eyebrow, "Uhhh - excuse me? What did I say?"

Yang blinks her eyes rapidly for a moment, "O-Oh, uhm - you said something that's - you know what, nevermind, it was a little joke - you know to lighten the mood around here!", she smiles at her.

The Siren just chuckles as she takes out a new Legendary Maliwan pistol, Beacon, has a weird, futuristic look but with a mix of curvaceous style and the usage of colors fits the style of the corporation who manufactured such elegant killing machine. "Seems you and Ruby have a knack of making things light and happy, you two together or something?"

Yang kicks a Beowulf's dead body away from the their spot which is a massive field similar to Flak and Blake's but with no sort of foliage in the middle of it, but she quickly faces Amara with a disgusted face, "Are you kidding me?! We're sisters!"

"Pfft - ", Amara bursts into laughter in front of Yang, but the latter feels nothing at all, well expect a mild mix of confusion. Amara's laughter dies down then stares at Yang in disbelief. "You two are actually step-sisters? REALLY?!"

Yang looks around while standing still then goes around to scout the field for any Grimm that might interrupt them. "Uhhh YEAH! - Ruby and I are step-sisters, same father, different mothers. Ruby's mother, Summer Rose, died a long time ago, and mine . . . well", abruptly, Yang's cheerful demeanor is gone in a few seconds, replaced by a somber tone, ". . . let's just say she has her own goals beside raising me."

Amara squats down on the soft grass, her legs crossed together, showing her knees from the slits on her ripped dark-purple jeans. She looks away and purses her lips, not realizing she just touched a sensitive subject. "Oh - that's . . . I'm sorry, I don't normally talk about family and stuff. When I received my Siren powers, my family were the only ones that supported me all the way until . . . "

Yang checks her bullets in her weapons, "Until?"

The Siren brawler closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, her tattoos glows faintly as it charges her mystical energy, beginning her meditation state. "Until I left Partali . . . my family and friends, they felt sad, disappointed. Three days before my departure, I heard my youngest sister, Bhavna, cry in her room for hours. She and I were the closest ones, and leaving her is like leaving a huge part of yourself. I sometimes regret my decision on leaving my family, but my hunger for challenges and killing massive monsters is my dream, and . . . I'm already going into this rabbit hole far better than anyone could."

She looks at Amara with a sad face but slowly turns into a surprised one when she sees her floating in mid-air, not too high, but enough to see her magical fists in normal size, the hands behind her are posing different mudras for meditation, popular in South Asian culture. "I - uhh - "

" - You don't have to say anything, that one was on me. I left my family just for my own personal goals that only an insane person would dare to do it. But I'm sure your mother still cares about you and she has a reason to leave, like what you said."

Yang stretches her legs, while chuckles to herself. " Yeah, I guess - but do you still keep in touch with your family? Even though they know you are one of the rarest creatures in the universe? They know about you being hunted across space, right?"

Amara smiles while keeping her eyes closed, and her tattoos glow even brighter in contrast to her dark skin tone. "Yang, keeping in touch with your family is the most important thing you'll do for them - even a simple hello from an ECHO mail is enough to keep them happy. I still talk to them, but yes, they know all about it. And at least they always tell me to keep a clear head, after all, it's how I become powerful - train and meditate. Like right now."

Yang is finished loosening up her body and ready to fight Amara in an open area, although she's confused as to why Amara prefers such a boring and mundane method rather than improving her skills physically. "Meditate? How does that even help punching your enemies?"

"In all of my fights, I have learned that a clear and calm head is better than a full aggressive mindset. It's how most warriors fail."

Yang raises a brow, thinking she may be insulting her in a mild manner, either way, an insult is an insult. "Are you saying that I'm going to fail at being a Huntress?"

"No, you said that yourself. I am only saying that not every problem can be solved by rage. And there are other simpler ways of defeating your enemy without jeopardizing yourself in the process.", she then opens her eyes and stands up, facing her at a close distance. "Here."

She smiles at her, "Hit me."

* * *

"Uh, of course. You asked for it.", she smirks cockily as she balls her left hand into a fist and eagerly throws a punch at Amara, only for her to move her head slightly to the side, feeling the gust of wind on her cheek.

Amara clicks her tongue and smirks at her, putting her hands in the pockets in her ripped jeans, "Hmmm, too slow. Again."

Yang squints her eyes, feeling a vein pulsing in her head, although she's not visibly angry. "Alright. . . ", she throws another punch again in the same area, only for Amara to dodge it.

But Yang throws another punch to Amara's gut, only for Amara to nearly get hit and dodges it the last second, grabbing Yang's hand and uses her fists against her, hitting her chest and sending her crashing against the tree.

Amara cracks her knuckles, "See? ~ And I didn't even take a hit, nor even pissed about it. Come on, Xiao Long, time to see if you're capable of protecting your team.", Amara readies her combat stance, but takes out a stick from the ground and draws a thick circle on the dirt around her. "To prove to me that you are the better fighter than me, your objective is simple: Make me flinch or cross past this circle here, if I physically cross this circle: You win."

Yang opens her eyes, listening to her alien counterpart, a woman that has no weapons on her and a seemingly equal brawler. "You can shoot me all you want, or even use your Aura and Semblance, I can just take you down on my own and no Siren powers to top it off. Now, again."

She frees herself from the tree's trunk and gets herself up, growling at her, "OH, IT'S ON! - RRAAGHHH! - ", she loads up and shoots behind her to give herself a massive speed boost, launching a kick towards Amara, who is holding her ground within the circle.

Amara side-steps a little bit, lifting one leg, away from the circle but not touching it, then she grabs Yang's leg with both of her hands, and swings her round and round as one would do a 'Hammer Throw' in a track-and-field activity. The Siren goes along with her opponent's force and throws Yang away from her, crashing on the ground with her back first. "Again."

Her irises turn red and her hair glows as she gets up, "Fine! - EAT THIS!", she shoots two projectiles, moving erratically towards her in order to avoid the target on keeping track where it, however Amara merely closes her eyes and squats down, avoid the projectiles whizzing past her, sending a decent amount of grass on fire, thankfully it isn't flammable enough to burn the entire field. "H-HOW IN THE - !?"

Amara merely smiles at her, still in her circle. "Again."

Yang can feel her anger boiling inside her and boosts herself to Amara, planning to do what she always do; Beat her opponents to a pulp. Once she's in flight, she fires a three rounds from Ember Celica.

For the first time, Amara can finally face a worthy opponent, although she has seen this move plenty of times already from her enemies back in Partali and during the war with the Children of the Vault.

As soon as the projectiles are in range, she jumps up high in the air, doing a backflip in the air and moving her body in the air, dodging the projectiles.

But as she lands on the circle, but she widens her eyes in shock to notice Yang's presence (along with her flaming fist) is way too close for comfort, and already in her drawn circle. And with a perfect timing, the Siren blocks the the Huntress with only the palm of her hand, feeling the burn from Yang's fist and absorbs the entire force of Yang's punch all over her body, instead of focusing on her hand.

There is a slight pause for a moment, the two brawlers stare at each other, with Yang mildly appalled at how Amara just blocks her entire attack despite her Semblance already on and even using Ember Celica to double it's power. "No. Way.", now she knows why Glynda, Ozpin and Pyrrha warned her about Amara more powerful than Yang by a mile.

Amara smirks devilishly at her, the same how Zane and Moze are eager to kill the assholes they hate, and the loot they wanna get by any means necessary. "Just one?"

Yang snaps herself out of it, and is further angered by her opponent's taunts. "CATCH UP WITH THIS!", and throws a series of punches at her, hitting her chest a few times and on also on her neck, Amara can feel the burn from Yang's Semblance, yet it's in her nature to ignore such powerful hits.

At a normal person's stand point, Yang's barrage of fists is pretty fast considering Yang's agility and speed when it comes to fighting, but for Amara, it's like seeing a little child playing her favorite action character with the typical move like this. 'Hmmm - the more she's angry, the powerful her attacks her, but predictable.', she thought to herself and thinks about using her arms. "WANNA SEE A REAL FIST BARRAGE?!", Amara throws a punch straight through Yang's face since she was preoccupied on trying to hit her as much as she can.

Yang stumbles back a bit, groaning in pain but she remains standing, but not for long. For Amara summons one of her giant fists, uppercutting her, throwing her up in the air. And with Amara taking a deep breath, she casts all of her massive mystical arms, "THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT! - GRRRAGGGHHH! - ", then focuses her Siren energy at Yang, commanding her fists to beat Yang up from above, further pushing her down until she hits the ground, but she gives a few good seconds for her six fists to pepper blow after blow on Yang, then disappears in thin air.

"That . . . ngh - could use some work.", but Yang's training never went one-sided. Amara's sweating bullets, as she crosses the circle, ending the lesson. On her body are burn marks from Yang's attacks, some are minor, but few are definitely visible and are clearly more painful to endure.

Amara stands over to Yang, laying unconscious for a moment, before letting out hard coughs and groggily opens her eyes. "Nicely done, Yang.", she offers her a hand.

* * *

Yang lets out a pained chuckle before taking Amara's hand, the latter lifting her up from the ground and taking out an Anshin Med-Hypo, the same one that was used earlier by Flak and Moze, and then injects it on Yang. However the brawler, for some reason, flinches away from her, "W-W-WHAT IS THAT?! WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO TO ME?!"

Amara blinks in surprise, an outgoing and confident Yang is afraid of needles? That's odd, but then again, everyone's afraid of needles at first, she'll understand and get used to it later on. "Easy, this is just a Med-Hypo, latest healing technology developed by the Anshin Corporation."

"A healing injection developed by an evil megacorporation? Seriously?"

Amara shrugs her shoulders, "Actually Anshin isn't evil. They are a medical megacorporation, they are just a bunch of smart doctors and scientists that are helping whatever and whoever they can. They are like saints, but their products are so good, it is also used for good and bad guys alike. Just one prick of this and you won't even feel that pain of our fight."

Yang bites her lower lip as she moves her shoulder a bit closer to Amara, while looking away, scared to see her skin being punctured by a rather normal needle. "Fine - but if I turn into a massive monster that looks uglier than a Goliath, then I'll blame you for all of it. Actually, I'll be the first one to stomp you down."

Amara does a fake smile at Yang, before instantly injects her with the red liquid inside it. She quickly pours all of the contents in for a few seconds before pulling out. "There! - All done, now the effects should be right about . . . now."

Yang suddenly feels like her usual self, her physical pain from that fight is slowly being lifted away like magic. Not even Aura can heal her this fast. Whatever scientific liquid that's made, it really is like magic. "Woow - I'm feeling a bit woozy, but I'm alright! - Huh, no wonder you survived this long. I don't know if I can with what I have though.", she looks on the ground, feeling defeated.

But instead of leaving Yang all frowning and pouting, Amara playfully hits her arm with her elbow, "Come on, for a young agile muscle like you, you hit hard, but you can't rely on that Semblance of yours especially when you need to get hurt to activate it, If the enemy figures it out, they won't LET you get the power up they could just lop off your head and end it there. You need raw strength from the start and you need to channel it from within your soul, not your muscles. The fire comes from within."

The aspiring Huntress rolls her eyes around, "And I know this 'fire' won't be as strong and clearly it's gonna take a lot of time' - I know you'll say that."

"Yang. Nobody - and I mean NOBODY can get stronger in a matter of minutes or days, sure you can get angry and fight even faster and tougher - but your Semblance has a limit, and a very big limit at that; the angrier you get, the vulnerable and predictable you are, the difference is just Power, Power and more Power. Yet if you can just train yourself, and not rely on your Semblance, then those flaws will not be a problem."

"Yeah, no shit. Pyrrha was right . . . Even Ember Celica has no match for you.", she smirks at her, confidently placing her hands on her hips.

"We're cut from the same cloth, we have our own strengths, you just have to expand yourself more to be stronger.", Amara also takes out another Med-Hypo and stabs herself with it, healing herself.

"I guess you are right, I'm not you. Hey, uhh - I was wondering if we could spar again some time next weekend? Or when you are done roaming around Remnant or something."

The Siren nods, "Any time.", but both of their attention is diverted as they hear a loud boom from a distance followed by high-pitched laughter.

Yang snickers at the familiar laughter, "Heh, looks like little sis, is having fun - "

Amara sighs in disappointment, " - Too much fun. Honestly, Zane doesn't take anything seriously. That's why they get along so well."

* * *

_**(ZANE VS RUBY)** _

* * *

On the other hand, the two speedsters are having the time of their lives shooting different weapons the old man has on his inventory. But of course, Zane, also a weapons enthusiast like Ruby and Moze, he gently grabs Crescent Rose and whirls it around like it's a normal scythe/staff. "Ooooo ~ quite a grip here ~ and the blade's curve is definitely perfect, I almost feel bad for the Grimm or any poor boyo that ever got to meet the end of this."

However he hears a series of loud explosions behind him and smiles at the young girl who's holding a rather weird gun.

"YEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH! WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!", the red riding hood shoots multiple rockets at dummy targets Zane set up, the weapon she's holding is one of the Borderlands' worst Legendary weapons, although it's presence is iconic: Torgue Corporation's 'finest' products, the Flakker. This shotgun sucks balls, and there's no denying it. Not only the user can't hit anything with it's flak cannon like attack, but it's also cumbersome and has a small amount of magazine size to compensate, and thus this weapon is only used purely for dumb ideas or the Vault Hunters ran out of fireworks for Mercenary Day.

Zane also laughs at Ruby, the old man feeling happy that he gets to enjoy his training time or in his words: Free Time, with Little Miss Hyper. "HAHAHAHAHHAAAAA! - HOW DOES SHE FEEL!?"

Ruby stops shooting and breathes heavily, and perks up with a big smile on her face, "I DIDN'T HIT A SINGLE THING! - BUT IT'S AMAZING! - If you give this to Nora, she would FLIP! - Do you have another one?!"

"Another one comin' right up! - "Zane smirks as he digistructs another gun and gives one to her, another unique looking gun as she examines it.

The gun being given to her has a mix of an assault rifle, but it also looks very similar to a grenade launcher with a base color of yellow or yellow orange and black along with a black star on the yellow paint, a large metal drum mag, presumably filled with something metallic, but the sound is rather . . . grainy, instead of sounding bulky like some grenade shells and has a scope attachment to it, a sturdy metal stock and the barrel is quite big, maybe bigger than Nora's Magnhild.

"May I introduce you to the . . . ", Zane does a jazz hands with a smile, " . . The Boring Gun. ~ ", he introduces the gun in a snazzy manner, but glances at the gun with a dead stare. "I got it from a weird-looking spiderant, Hammerlock called it an Antelope . . .", he turns to Ruby, trying contain his laughter at the joke. "G-Get it? . . . Because of the antelope, which is an animal?"

Ruby just stares the old man with a confused look ,before getting the joke and wraps her arms around her waist, "PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! - Seriously?! Why is it called an Antelope?! Does it have long branched horns?!"

Zane can't help but burst into laughter with Ruby as well, "YA DAMN RIGHT IT WAS! THAT GIT HAD A BODY THIS SMALL AND HORNS THIS BIG!", he adjusts his hands, trying to visualize the size proportions of the Antelope, while the two are laughing non-stop, but Zane's laughter dies down, "Ahhhh ~ anyway, this thing shoots quite the projectiles, but majority of peeps 'round the galaxy, including Moze, Amara an' Flak, they considered this gun . . . Boring!"

Ruby also stops laughing and suddenly gasps in horror at him, "Why is it boring? This looks awesome! - How could they say such a thing!?".

Zane clasps his hands rubs them, smiling mischievously, " Oooohhh, you'll see ~ Go on then, give it a try!"

The young leader licks her lips, aiming the gun at the wooden targets fires the gun, only to shoot 3 Saw Blades out of nowhere and charges at the dummies and then cause massive explosions, destroying the dummies, scaring the birds and the other animals away, Ruby has her mouth, T-Tha - THIS GUN SHOOTS SAW BLADES?! - THIS IS RIDICULOUS! - IT'S THE BEST!"

"I KNOW RIGHT?! ~ I MERELY USE THIS WHENEVER I'M BORED OUT OF ME MIND! - Ah . . .", suddenly he just said a bad pun.

There was absolute silence for a moment before the two burst into laughter again at the pun, with Ruby rolling on the ground, wrapping her sides. Zane also laughs but then accidentally presses the trigger on Crescent Rose firing a bullet in the sky, "JAYSUS! - Yeesh, haven't seen a complicated gun like this in a long time, is there anything this thing can't do?"

Ruby takes her weapon, and examines it with a big smile. "It is a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe or HCSS - a hybrid between a scythe and a sniper rifle. I built Crescent Rose when I attended Signal Academy, like the rest of the students who attended. I based it on the Harbinger, the weapon of my uncle, he was a teacher at the school and taught me scythe fighting. My weapon has three modes, a "Storage" mode, its most compact form convenient for transportation, stored underneath my cloak at my waist, a "Rifle" mode, where it takes the form of a medium-length, bolt-action rifle. In this form, the absence of the scythe makes for more effective use of the rifle component. And my favorite - "

She whirls the scythe around, much faster than Zane's movements, "It has the "Scythe" mode, its most expanded form, where it fully extends into the form of a scythe, allowing it to be used as a mid-to-close-range bladed melee weapon. This form also doubles as a long-barrel sniper rifle for long-range shots without giving up the melee capabilities of the scythe. If needed, the bottom of the shaft can unfold to add more cutting power in a close-quarters fight."

Ruby: I wanted to upgrade Crescent Rose more but we'd have to do more than just train with our weapons - we got assignments and paperwork too, and it's too tiring.", she shudders in fear as she thinks about the piles of assignments being given to her.

Zane winces in pain and lets out a loud groan, remembering the massive piles of assassination contracts along with it are countless odd jobs that he didn't like at all. "AGHHHHHH! - PAPERWORK! I GOT OUT OF THE ASSASSINATION BUSINESS SO I CAN AVOID PAPERWORK! - I feel you, lass, it keeps me awake at night too, and NOT in a good way."

Ruby slowly raises her head up, "Really? I thought its because you are tired from your real job - "

Zane chuckles nervously at her, ruffling her hair. "What that? Oh nonononononono! - as much as I hate to say it with a sweet little lass like you, I'm afraid I have my own kinds of having fun. I won't tell ya' anythin' but it's not good for yer system, aye? Ya' don't wanna be like me, or Katagawa Jr. ", he smiles cheerfully at her.

"Kata-whaat? Who is he? Your friend?", she tilts her head to the side.

Zane strokes his beard, trying to remember him from his past jobs. "Hmmm, more like acquaintances, I met this boyo back when I used to work for Maliwan, back then he's just like ya' except he's rich, spoiled brat, he's not like yer friend Weiss, at least she knows her stuff. But I met him again, this time as - uhh - strangers, more or less, yet the good thing is he left me something handy that's gonna be fun!"

Ruby goes back to her playful grin and jumping in place, "YAY! - Story Time?!",

"HAHAAA! STORY TIME! - Okay, so this bloke got himself this nice tech he copied from me good pal, who is also a contractor, like me. He was the head of Mergers and Acquisitions of the Maliwan Corporation, bunch of douchebags who like money more than anythin' - they'd kill a lotta people for a small paycheck.", he rubs his index and thumb together with a sinister tone.

Ruby frowns, pursing her lips as she thinks how horrible they are. Even if she is out of Remnant, there are still enemies she'll face in all shapes and sizes. "I can't believe people like that still exist out there!"

Zane looks at her with a straight face, "Actually - that's the norm but I'll just pretend you said something cool because the writer's running out of vocabulary and ideas to use - SO, that Katagawa boyo, he's always annoying us during our time in Promethea, when suddenly, we blew up the Zanara, his pleasure yacht. He kept yappin' about it, YAP, YAP, YAP!", he then sees Ruby raising her hand.

"What's a pleasure yacht?"

Zane shrugs his shoulders, "I honestly don't know - but imagine a BIIIIIG spaceship with parties all the time, and filled with - uhm - rich people stuff like Fondue Fountains, Dessert Domains, Giant Pool Parties, even a Spa Palace!"

Ruby thought about it and let her imagination run wild, getting all excited. "Oooo ~ must've cost a fortune to make a ship that big! I WANNA RIDE IT!"

Zane shrugs his shoulders, "Eh, it blew up. BLLLLPPPFTT!"

She instantly loses her enthusiasm, slouching with a pout. "Awwwww ~ "

"Aye it was - and that's the reason why he was PISSED! - He then goes radio silent and tries to assassinate the CEO of the Atlas Corporation by disguising as my best friend, can you believe that?! - At least I know his handiwork from an impersonator, so we all know it wasn't me friend from the get-go. We found him and then that boyo had the gull to face all of us."

"So what happened? Did you guys arrest him?"

The hitman winces again, "You see - when he faced us - he - uhh - wasn't very cooperative, and we had to 'convince' him to stand down, but Moze triggered the self-destruct suit and - like the Zanara - BLLLLPPPFTT! - BUT NO GUTS AND BLOOD! Just exploded into pixels.", then breathes out to end the story and smiles at her. "But lass, there's an unspoken rule on travelling planets; And that is you always get a souvenir. And ya' know what we got?"

"Oooo! What is it!? A BIG GUN! O-OR MAYBE A BIG ENERGY SWORD THINGY! - TH-THAT CAN ALSO BE A GUN!"

Zane ruffles her hair playfully, "HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! - Not those lass, THIS!", he takes his Digi-Clone remote and shows a black rectangular box that's connected to the remote. Afterwards, he then gives it to Ruby.

Ruby checks the remote, seeing a big red button. "So, what does it do?"

"Watch ~ ", Zane takes the remote off her hands, smiling with glee while quickly steps to the side and gives a finger-gun expression to his Digi-Clone. "Hey gorgeous ~ ", the Digi-Clone also plays along, doing another finger-gun at the original Zane.

"Hmmm . . . But I already saw that - "

He turn to Ruby and gasps, "Oh it's not just one - ", as Zane side-steps again but he starts dancing, each pose the original Zane does, a Digi-Clone appears cool pose.

Ruby widens her eyes in amazement as she witness the clones are growing rapidly, she takes a step back, but she can feel faint whirring behind her, she turns around to find a clone, crossing his arms and smiling at her. "Woah . . . S-SO MANY CLONES!", she looks around as she's surrounded with Zane's Digi-Clones, at least 12 of them, separated all over the field.

* * *

Zane stops dancing and smiles at Ruby, and cracks his knuckles from far away, "HERE'S HOW'S IT GONNA GO DOWN! I'LL GIVE YOU A TEST RUN OF ME GUNS IFFFFF! - "

Ruby squints her eyes, trying to spot where he is, but she can hear his voice in the distance. Suddenly she hears a high-pitched static noise near her, followed by faint giggling " - You can catch me."

The leader immediately turns around and grabs Zane, but in his place is a Digi-Clone, just looking at her smugly. "A-HA! GOTCHA' - whaaa? ", she touches the Digi-Clone, feeling a faint tingle as she but sees a Digi-Clone of himself. She is suddenly confused and shifts her eyes to the original Zane in the distance.

Zane does a little Chicken Dance emote, "LET'S PLAY TAG FER 20 MINUTES , REEEEEED! ~ ", he then teleports to another clone, this time he's pointing comically at her. " - AND YAR' THA' IT! ~ ", time to test the team leader, seeing how she's already hyped up.

Ruby smirks as she takes out Crescent Rose, using the recoil to boost herself towards him. "YOU'RE ON! ~ I'M GONNA USE THE HECK OUT THOSE GUNS!"

Zane whistles as he then teleports elsewhere, with his arms open wide. "THIS IS GONNA BE FUN, SHOW ME WHATCHA' GOT, LIL' LASS! ~ PAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!",

His hilarity echoes around the field which makes her growling in anger and boosts herself again, this time with more power, focusing her vision on the original Zane, but as soon as she blinked he is then gone, and replaced with another Digi-Clone. "W-WHAT?! - BUT I JUST BLINKED! - "

Zane is already above her and teleports again, "OI! - YA' BETTER BE SMARTER THAN THAT LASS! - SPEED IS NOTHIN' IF YER BRAIN IS FULL OF GREY MATTER AND SUNSHINE RAINBOWS!", he yells as he's far away from her again.

"GET BACK HERE!", Ruby fires three shots from Crescent Rose, tripling her speed boost for herself, but the old man is always far away from her reach. Each time she's moves closer, Zane always teleports away from her with or without looking at her, it's as if these clones can send some sort of signal to Zane.

As he swaps places with another clone, he yells at Ruby. "OI! - STOP PLAYIN' CAT AND MOUSE! YA' CAN ALWAYS BREAK THE RULES!"

"W-what am I supposed to do? Think, Ruby, think!", she stops for a moment, eyeing the clones, sensing something wrong thought of something and tries it out.

Ruby takes aim at one of the clones and shoots it by the head, the clone groaning in pain before digistructing into non-existence, the rest of the Digi-Clones gulp nervously together.

At first she was shocked that she terminated a clone, "Woooahhhh - ", but then she realizes it's just a hologram, so she's ready to change her style now. She starts slicing off the holograms around her, each of them flinching in pain and disappear like the first one.

Zane notices his clones are decreasing by the second, "Cuttin' off me path, ay? - Smart move ~ but not smart enough!", he then pushes button in one of the buttons on the side of the remote and suddenly all of the clones explode into a burst of electricity.

"Nghgghghggghhh!", Ruby is electrocuted and gets knocked back from the clones shockwaves, putting her down on the ground. She can feel the numbness all over her body, preventing her from moving.

Zane runs and stops in front of her, "You're fast, but ya need more than speed, ya need Accuracy Lass! THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF SPEED TO START WITH, unless ya hit first or when the bloke ain't looking. Ya need to END the fight, not play with it.", the hitman grins at her. Even he's not giving Ruby any chance of victory, at the very least he can still give her some good feedback to correct herself.

However, she does a big move, by faking her pain - and touching Zane on his shoulder, with a impish grin. " Hehe - TAG! YOU'RE IT! YAAAY!", she fires her rifle again, flying away from Zane.

Zane blinks his eyes to realize she was just playing him for a fool. His eye twitches in irritation and takes out his remote and summons 20 more clones, spreading around the area and "I BLOODY HELL AM NOT! I'M COMIN' FER YA' ! ~ ", he grins as he teleports to catch up to Ruby.

Ruby looks back and does an Akanbe expression, which is just someone pulling down one's lower eyelid to expose the red underside towards someone, often accompanied by the person sticking their tongue out. You learn something new everyday.

"HAHAAHAHAHAAAAA! - Try again, little lass. This time, better change yer game plan. IF I were you . . . I'd shoot for the annoying bloke, already playing Tag.", Zane does the disco dance while circling around her, going behind the clones since being hit by Crescent Rose is a good idea not to be in range from that thing, otherwise, it's lights out for him. "Ahh shite . . . "

As Ruby slashes some clones down at ridiculous speed , she is starting to catch up with the Operative, now using her Semblance, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her, and the speed of which is on par to Zane's teleportation interval.

Zane looks behind him to see Ruby already close to his position. "AGH! FECK ME!", keeps spawning more clones, in erratic manner, it's obvious that he's trying to find a way out. "Are ya' KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!", his tone is more panicked than earlier.

"ALMOST THERE! ~ ", Ruby taunts him while she's almost in his vicinity, combining her attacks both melee ang ranged, keeping on slicing more and more clones in her sight while boosting herself with the recoil.

"Agh - guess Ii'll fookin' risk it . . . ", Zane, can't afford to be another IT again, so he takes out his remote teleport to another clone, located to Ruby's right side, but it's covered with another clone in front of it as cover, it may not be as much, but hopefully Ruby will be confused as to which is which.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!", Ruby uses her scythe as she slashes the clone in front of her, however, what she didn't know is the original Zane right in front of her, once the clone dies and disappears.

Zane clutches his wound and groans in pain, acting like he's in a near death state. "S-Shite . . . ", then he does the Death emote, with Ruby unaware that this is just a trick and falls on the ground, face-down.

"ZANEE!", Ruby has a feared look on her face, as she drops Crescent Rose on the ground, and rushes to him and assess his condition. "Oh I'm so sorry! - I - I thought - ", her eyes start to water as she sees the Operative's

Zane smiles weakly at the young girl, "D-Don't worry, lass . . . I'm proud of ya.", he opens his hand to reveal there was no blood, the visible slash mark is present but instead of leaking blood it leaks pixels. Ruby sees the 'wound' and turns to Zane with a Troll Face. "BECAUSE I HAVE A SHIELD ON! ~

Ruby shakes her head in disbelief and backs away a bit. "S-SERIOUSLY?!"

The hitman quickly gets up and presses her nose with his finger, " AAAAANNNND TAG, YOU'RE IT! - ", he then teleports elsewhere, before he gets touched by Ruby again. Afterwards, uses his device again to create more clones of himself, surrounding RWBY in a circle, doing to the Conga-Line, even wearing sombrero hats and stylish ponchos.

Ruby frowns as she just lost here chance to be the winner. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!", she launches herself again this time, but she's all surrounded with clones.

They all chant together, "One of these things is not like the other ~ One of these things just doeeeeesn't belong ~ ", the clones laugh together, drowning out the noise.

But their taunts backfires as Ruby slowly grows even more angry as Yang as she does a big whirlwind move, slicing all the clones in one go. Revealing the real Zane. The Operative checks himself for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief.

As for Ruby, all that fast movement in a few seconds made her all woozy and eventually falls down, looking up at the sky with her eyes and her mind swirling in a daze. Suddenly her stomach growls a bit, "Ugggh - my tummy doesn't feel too good."

* * *

She groans in pain as she is slowly recovering from circling round, in front of her is Zane crouched down and gives her a bottle of apple juice, instead of his flask. "Here, lass - I owe ya' a field test - ya' did good. And uh - it's my bad about me trick."

"No, that makes us even. Thanks, Uncle Zane. - Ah . . . ", she then shuts up, looking down in shame thinking Zane will be creeped out by her and feeling embarrassed to she said that to a old geezer she just met recently and by I mean recently, I mean few weeks ago.

Zane looks at the saddened Ruby, feeling sorry for the poor girl. But instead of a reluctantly reply, he smiles kindly at Ruby and pats her on the head. "It's alright, lass. Uncle Zane's fine with me! In fact, that's actually one of me nicknames, you see there was this job back at Promethea when I had to - "

Ruby looks up and widens her eyes sparkling as she immediately hugs him with a big smile, interrupting his story. "Thank you, Uncle Zane!", of course she didn't mean in a close manner, but Ruby now has someone to look up to and at the same time have fun with her, because in another person's perspective, these two are happy-go-lucky, cheery, and also good at what they do, except for Zane, who is too good in what he does. But the Operative is different from most killers out there in Remnant and across the galaxies.

A cold-blooded, emotionless killer would never accept such a gesture like this, but for Zane, seeing Ruby all happy like this feels as if he has a little niece that is also like him, but the difference between them is clear, Ruby had a proper happy family while Zane only had his brothers, and he left his family years decades ago, in search for a better life, only to find nothing valuable that really meant to him, the closest thing he has besides Ruby, is his team along with the Crimson Raiders.

But now, maybe the old hitman can change a bit, starting by taking good care of Ruby and her friends. "Ahh c'mere, lass!", Zane snickers while gently grabbing Ruby and lets her do piggy-back ride. "Let's go home, 'fore Ozzy thinks we're slackin' off and testing my guns."

* * *

_**COURTYARD - BEACON ACADEMY** _

* * *

In the Courtyard, the Vault Hunters and the rest of Team RWBY are talking about how their training went. Blake is playing with Broodless as she makes a little figurine made from Broodless' strong silk and gives it to Flak, to which the robot squints his eye at Blake, feeling happy that after all that training they still remain friends.

Moze and Weiss, on the other hand, are not talking to each other. Moze is playing music while taking a nap in Iron Bear's cockpit, leaving the door open, while Weiss is studying . . . while drinking Moze's root beer, all with a straight face.

Meanwhile, Yang and Amara are doing an arm wrestling match, with Yang not using her Ember Celica to try and defeat Amara, but the Siren brawler just waits for Yang to almost put her down, only for the Siren to put her down in one go. Although Amara gives her some tips to increase her strength the old-fashioned way.

"OIIIIIIIIII! ~ ", Zane's yell catches the attention of the Huntresses and the Vault Hunters, seeing him wave at his friends and seeing an unconscious Ruby, nestled on his back, taking a nap, with a little adorable smile on her face.

"RUBY!", Yang runs up to her and checks up on her and chuckles while pinching her cheeks, "Yeesh, she had quite the fun."

"Awwww come on, at least ya lasses had a great time right?", he smirks at the blonde.

Blake instantly snaps at the Operative with stern eyes glaring at him. "I almost got eaten alive by an alien dog, and got bashed in the head by an alien monkey with a baseball bat."

Flak sharpens his tribal axe with Moze's combat knife. " **Honestly, it could've gotten worse, I can think of other possibilities that a human can suffer.** ", Blake just responds with a wince and a fearful look at the Beastmaster.

Weiss crushes the can in anger, "I was whisked away by a rocket and almost crushed to death by a rockslide, plus I'm starting to like this horrendous drink Moze has, it's called 'Root Beer'.", then throws it on the ground, crushing it with her feet.

Yang smiles slyly while crossing her arms, facing Weiss, "Ooooo ~ Weiss getting on like a real rebel huh? ~ "

"Eh, she's pretty easy to break if you ask me. - ", Moze snickers while listening to music, overhearing their conversation the whole time. She takes out another can of root beer and starts sipping it.

Weiss huffs into a fit at Yang, "IT'S NOT ALCOHOL! IT DOESN'T COUNT, YOU DOLT! - WHAT ABOUT YOU?! - YOU LITERALLY GOT YOURSELF HANDED BY A WOMAN WHO DIDN'T EVEN USE HER POWERS TO DEFEAT YOU!"

"Uhh - technically, I used my arms, sooo - you are wrong on that.", the Siren just floats in mid-air, continuing her meditation.

Ruby slowly wakes up and hops off Zane. "EVERYOOOOOOONE'S HERE! ~ ", she hugs Blake Weiss and Yang, speeding and hugging each of them before standing beside Yang. "IT WAS THE BEST TRAINING EVER! - I hope we can do this again, Uncle Zane."

As soon as she heard that, Amara breaks her trance, Moze accidentally crushes the can, spilling the rest of the root beer on her face and Flak, along with his beasts even looked at Ruby. However, Team RWBY fails to notice their expressions.

Just before Moze gets up and tries to lash out at the old geezer, she hears footsteps nearby, "Well done on the exercise, I hope you've all learned something today. Team RWBY, you may free to go now.", Ozpin and Glynda appears with the former smiling kindly at them.

Ruby turn to Ozpin with a sad expression. "B-But Headmaster, can we at least spend some time with them for a while? It's the weekend after all - "

Glynda steps forward, glaring daggers at Ruby. "They are NOT going else - ", but she is cut off by Ozpin who in turn, glares at Glynda, of which the Headmistress takes a deep breath and steps backwards. " - We're just letting the Vault Hunters come up to our office for a little conversation about settling things here in Vale.", she turns at the Vault Hunters, especially Zane, who is surprisingly not smiling anymore, with the Operative gives her a stern look.

Zane turns to Team RWBY, with a big smile. "Ahhh so sorry about that, but - uhm - we'll be back before ya' know it!", he follows Ozpin and Glynda to the office, the rest of the team also follows suit.

As they watch the Vault Hunters abruptly leave, Yang places a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Should we do it?", her tone is mixed with worry, but the brawler knows that something's not right.

Ruby turns to her step-sister and nods, determined to know what's going on, because in her stand point, she's already considered them as her friends from outer space, and she'll be damned if they won't help them. "Yeah, let's do it."

* * *

**_HEADMASTER'S OFFICE_ **

* * *

As the Vault Hunters enter the office, they see Tannis cupping her chin, while being interrogated with an angry General Ironwood, his frown is clearly visible to the team.

Ironwood appears on the screen with a fumed face at the Vault Hunters "What. The. Hell. WERE YOU ALL THINKING!?", his voice booms around the office.

Moze takes off her Vladof helmet and screws her ear with her pinky finger nonchalantly. "What's that? - I'm thinking there's a massive Drill-bit shouting at me like he's my father."

Ironwood growls at them, "This isn't funny, soldier. Didn't boot camp tell you to be respectful to your superior officers?!".

Zane smirks at the Gunner. "I dunno, the way killed that one dude was pretty God damn funny-"

Ironwood and Glynda snaps at the old man. "SHUT UP!"

Zane turns to both of them with a bored look. "...Well that was rude."

The general places his hand on is forehead, massaging it. "I can't even imagine the damage of what you've done, the expenses we'll have to cover for damage of property alone, we had to pay a small fortune just to keep the Police out of this! NOT TO MENTION THE GRAVEYARD YOU'VE ALL LEFT BEHIND AND WHATEVER THE HELL YOU ALL DID THIS FOR!"

Glynda frowns back at the screen. "Ironwood, calm down or you'll burst a vein."

Zane cockily smiles at Glynda, just seeing her defend him makes him feels special, although that statement has a hint of sarcasm in it. "Thank you Miss Good-stuff ~ I knew you'd be on our si - "

The Headmistress then leans towards Zane with the maddest eyes ever, her glare can literally send extreme down on someone's spine, however, Zane is completely unfazed by her. "You don't get to pretend we're friends, Mr. Flynt! He's right about everything you've done and then some, the amount pain you wrought is enough to rival the Great War!"

The Beastmaster is currently sitting with his legs spread open and his arms resting on his thighs looking down, but his head slowly raises up. " **I am not seeing the issue here, but I am noting the Ozpin is showing signs of . . . confusion and worry.** "

Moze shifts her glance to him with a deadpanned look. "Yo Ozzy, ya got something to say?".

Whilst cleaning his glasses and putting 'em back on, he frowns a bit and stares at them. "Why DID you do all of this? You all knew the Vale Police Force would just take care of it."

Tannis steps up, "Not to insult anyone or anything, but the Vale 'Police Force' is rather incompetent at doing their job, of course Vale is a big city and all - but it's an ordinary city, and there has to be someone that's a veteran AND knows the ins and outs of this city, of which . . . there are none. So yes, the Vault Hunters basically did the dirty work. - "

The Operative just shrugs his shoulders. " - Besides boyo, it's all obvious from here. We're mercenaries, through and through. Put two and two together, then BOOM! - "

Ironwood raises an eyebrow at them. "Mercenaries?! This 'stunt' made massive acts of terrorism look like a toddler throwing a tantrum! - "

" - Look, we CAN explain if you let us because we have more of a reason than just 'We're Mercenaries'.", Amara cuts in between their conversation, and says it while giving an annoyed expression at Zane, The group had to always put up with something because of his Devil's Advocate attitude. "We also got in good with a Kingpin and something tells me-"

Glynda stares coldly at the Siren, "Do you mean Torchwick!?"

Zane smiles cheerfully and nods. "The One and the Same! ~ Boyo's pretty smart with his stuff, even saved me arse during that fight with the Paladin Prototype ~ ".

Amara snaps at Zane, "If you'd let me finish - ", the old man just went silent. " - We already have a favor he owes us and we could take 'em down for you. I know you all want to get rid of him - it's all on your faces."

But unable to resist cutting in, Zane raises his index finger. "IF the price is right of course. - "

Ironwood's face turn to red in pure anger, and ready to scream his head off at the annoying hitman. It's people like Zane that pisses him off, disobeying authorities, acting on their own volition and causing more damage even the situation could've been handled much more peaceful. But then again, peace can only be manipulated and the criminals that are arrested will just cause more chaos again - and the cycle repeats itself.

" - Which is free, the price is free! RIGHT ZANE?", Amara twists his arm, while turning to the Operative with gritted teeth.

Zane widens his eye, unexpected that she's breaking his good arm, "AYE AYE AYE AY-OOOOUUCHHHH! OF COURSE IT'S FREE! IT'S FREE!", he groans in pain, hearing his bones crack several times, before Amara letting it go.

Ozpin sighs and nods, "Very well then.", he puts down his coffee, wears his glasses and grabs his cane, walking to the Vault Hunters.

Glynda and Ironwood turn to Ozpin upon hearing this, are shocked and befuddled by the old man's calm and . . .happy tone? They were mixed between confusion, creeped out and enraged. Ozpin continued despite their silent yet obvious reactions towards him. "I'm willing to overlook this tragedy, but you must promise me something in return . . ."

" . . . Two years ago, a dark event took place. Amber, the Fall Maiden was ambushed and her powers stolen, this is the fight that took place. It was recorded by one of our elite Huntsmen.", He takes a remote from his pocket and turns on another screen, smaller than the one Ironwood is currently in right now, but it's visible for the Vault Hunters to see a first-person view of someone rushing forth into a group of teenagers, afterwards the Huntsman takes out his large sword and slices the black substance that connects to the girl's hand and Amber, and taking the latter's body in his arms.

The girl with the red dress smirks at the Huntsman before casting a fireball on his position, fortunately, he notices it perfectly dodged the attack, but looks back to where the enemy was only to disappear in plain sight, so as the other two teenagers that were with her earlier. The camera finally pans at the face of Amber, already clinging on for dear life.

"I have a mission for you four, and this time, it won't relate with training or touring around Remnant, because you will track down the attackers that were responsible for Amber. So far, she's been radio silent and I ask of you to bring her to Beacon safe and sound."

Glynda turns to the Vault Hunters, especially at Zane, who is awfully silent the whole time after the brief recording was shown. It's as if he's hiding something, or worse, the Vault Hunters know something they don't - and she doesn't trust them one bit at that.

But for now Moze breaks the silence, "Tracking down some broad and her goons and our 'sins' will be forgiven? Deal. But . . . we can't promise you on the 'safe and sound' part - you know our handiwork, Ozzy. We kill anything that's a threat to us.", she turns to the screen to reveal their training earlier, Flak's Gamma Bursts, Moze's Iron Bear, Zane's Digi-Clone, and Amara's Siren Powers. On the other hand is a news report from last night, the Vault Hunters were gonna get caught eventually.

Ozpin smiles at them, "Excellent. Now, I'm afraid you'll have a tougher time explaining your skirmish to our more . . . novice members." he presses a button on his desk and the doors open having Team RWBY fall to the ground, revealed to be eavesdropping.

Ruby slowly gets up and looks at Zane with a worried expression, but the Operative frowns and looks away. This is why he doesn't want anyone close to him, in the end, he's just a cold-blooded killer like his team and every asshole in the six galaxies.

" **I believe this is where I use the phrase recommended for this situation.** ", he clears his throat. **"Well, shit.** "


End file.
